Body that are formed and they have very little consistence in Infants while they are in the Womb And it must be observed that if this Mother had determined the Motion of these Spirits to any other part of her Body by some violent titilation her Child would not have had his Bones broken but that part which had answer'd to that to which the Mother determined these Spirits had been much hurt as I have already said The Reasons of this accident may serve to explain in general how Women who during their being with Child upon seeing Persons with certain Marks in their Faces imprint the same on their Children and in the same part of the Body And from thence we may judge that advice very reasonable which bids 'em touch some hidden part of the Body when they perceive any thing which surprizes 'em and when they are agitated with any violent Passion for that may cause the Marks to be traced rather upon these hidden parts than upon the Face of their Infants We should often have instances like to what I have now related if Infants could live after having received such great Wounds but generally it causes Abortions For we may conclude that almost all Infants who dye before they are born except they be sick have no other cause of their Death than a fright some ardent desire or some other violent passion of their Mothers Here is also another very particular instance 'T is not above a Year since that a Woman having with too much application consider'd the Picture of Saint Pius when the Feast of his Canonization was celebrated was brought to bed of a Child which was perfectly like the Representation of this Saint He had the Face of an Old Man as much as it was possible in an Infant that has no Beard his Arms were crossed upon his Breast his Eyes turned towards Heaven and he had a very low Forehead because the Image of this Saint being raised towards the Vault of the Church and looking towards Heaven had almost no Forehead likewise He had a kind of a confused Miter upon his Shoulders with many round marks in the places where Miters are covered with Stones And indeed this Child very much resembled the Picture by which his Mother had formed him through the power of her Imagination 'T is a thing that all Paris might have seen as well as I because 't was a long time preserved in Spirits of Wine This instance is the more particular because there was not the sight of a Man living and agitated with some passion who moved the Spirits and Blood of the Mother to produce so strange an effect but only the sight of a Picture which yet was very sensible and accompanied with a great emotion of Spirits caused either through the Zeal and application of the Mother or through the agitation that the noise of the Feast had produc'd in her This Mother therefore looking upon this Picture with some application and emotion of Spirits the Child according to the first supposition saw it as she did with the same application and emotion of Spirits The Mother being lively affected imitated him at leaft in the Posture according to the second Supposition for her body being entirely formed and the Fibres of her Flesh hard enough to resist the course of the Spirits she could not imitate or make her self like to him in all things but the Fibres of the Infant 's Flesh being extreamly soft and consequently susceptible of all sorts of impressions the violent course of the Spirits produced in his Flesh whatsoever was necessary to make him entirely like the Image that he saw and the imitation to which Children are much more disposed perfected it as much as possible but this imitation having given to the body of this Child a figure so very extraordinary it was also the cause of its Death There are many other Examples in Authors of the power of the Imagination of Mothers and there is nothing so fantastical but has caused Abortions sometimes For they not only make Children deformed but also marked with such Fruits as they have longed for as Plumbs Pears Grapes and such like things For instance some Mothers having a strong Inclination to eat Pears the Children imagine and desire them with the same ardour and the course of the Spirits excited by the image of this desired fruit disposing it self through the little body is able to change its sigure because of its sostness So that these poor Children become like those things they wish'd for with so much ardour But the Mothers suffer no Injury because their bodies are not soft enough to take the figure of such things as they imagine Thus they cannot imitate them or render themselves entirely like ' em Now it must not be imagined that this Correspondence that I have explained and which is sometimes the cause of such great disorder is useless or ill ordered by Nature for on the contrary it seems very useful in the Propagation of Humane Bodies or in the formation of the Foetus and it is absolutely necessary to the transmitting certain dispositions of the Brain which ought to be different at different times and in different Countrys For instance it is requisite in some Countrys that Lambs should have their Brains to disposed as to fly at the sight of a Wolf because there are many of 'em there and they have a great deal to fear from them 'T is true that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with her Infants has sometimes ill consequences when the Mothers suffer themselves to be surprized by any violent passion Yet it seems to me that without this Communication Women and Animals could not easily beget young ones of the same kind for although some reason might be given of the formation of the Foetus in general as D'Cartes has happily enough attempted However 't is very difficult without this Communication of the Mothers Brain with the Childs to explain how a Mare should not beget an Ox or an Hen lay an Egg which contains a little Partridge or some Foul of a new kind I believe those that have considered the sormation of the Foetus will be of this opinion The most reasonable thought and that which is most conformable to experience about this difficule question of the formation of the Foetus is that Children are perfectly formed even before the action by which they are conceived and that their Mothers only contribute to their growth whilst they continue in the Womb. However this Communication of Animal Spirits and of the Mothers Brain with the Spirits and Brain of the Child seems still serviceable to regulate this growth and determine the parts which serve for its Nourishment and by little and little to dispose the Child like the Mother or else like some of the same Species This appears plain enough by the accidents which happen when the Imagination of the Mother is disordered and the Natural Disposition of her Brain is changed
by some violent passion for then as we have already explain'd this communication charges the conformation of the body of the Child and the Mother is so much the more apt to miscarry of the the Foetus as it has more resemblance to the desired Fruits and as the Spirits find less resistance in the Fibres of the Infants body Now it cannot be deny'd but that God without this Communication was able to have disposed all things in so exact and regular a manner as would have been necesary for the Propagation of the Species for insinite Ages that Mothers should never have Miscarried and even that they should always have had Children of the same bigness of the same Colour and that would have resembled in all things For we must not measure the power of God by our weak Imagination and we know not the Reasons he had in the construction of his work We see every day that without the help of this Communication Plants and Trees produce their kinds regularly enough and that Fowls and many other Animals have no need of it to cherish and bring forth other Animals when they sit upon Eggs of different kinds as when a Hen sits on a Partridges Eggs. For although we may reasonably conclude that the Seeds and Eggs contain in themselves the Plants and Birds which proceeds from 'em and that they may produce the little bodies of these Birds having received their Conformation by the Communication we have spoke of and the Plants theirs by another Equivocal Communication yet we cannot be certain of it But although we cannot discover the reasons why God has made every thing as it is we must not conclude from thence that he could make 'em no otherwise If we consider further that Plants who receive their growth by the action of the Female Plant resemble her much more than those which come from the seed as Tuleps for instance which come from the Root are of the same Colour as the Tulep it self and yet those that proceed from the Seed thereof are almost very different we cannot doubt that if the Communication of the Female Plant with the Fruit is not absolutely necessary to form the same kind yet it is always requisite to make the Fruit intirely like her So that although God foresaw that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with that of the Infants would sometimes destroy the Foetus and produce Monsters because of the Irregularity of the Mothers imagination yet this Communication is so admirable and so necessary for the Reasons before-mentioned and for many others that I could yet add that this knowledge that God had of these inconvencies ought not to have hindred him from executing his design We may say in one sense that God never had a design to make Monsters for it appears evident to me that if God should create one Animal only it would not be Monstrous But designing to produce an admirable work by the most simple ways and unite all these Creatures one to another he foresaw certain effects that would necessarily follow from the Order and Nature of things and this hath not diverted him from his design For although a Monster simply considered be an imperfect work yet when it is joyn'd with the rest of the creatures it does not render the World imperfect We have sufficiently explain'd what power the Imagination of a Mother has over the body of her Child let us now examine the power it hath over its Mind and that way discover the first Irregularities of the Mind and Will of Men in his Original For this is our chief design It is evident that the traces of the Brain are accompanied with Sentiments and Ideas of the Soul IV. An Explanation of some irregularities of the Mind and of the inclinations of the Will and that the emotion of the Animal Spirits have no effect in the Body but what the Motions in the Soul answer to and in a word it is certain that all the Sensations and Passions of the Body are accompany'd with true Sentiments and Passions in the Soul Now according to our first supposition Mothers first communicate the traces of their Brain to their Children and afterwards the Motions of their Animal Spirits and so produce the same passion in the mind of their Children with which they themselves are affected and by consequence they cortupt both their affections and reason in several respects If so many Children are observed to bear upon their Faces the Marks and Traces of the Idea that affected their Mother although the Fibres of the skin make much more resistance against the course of the Spirits than the soft parts of the Brain and thô the Spirits are much more agitated in the Brain than towards the Skin we cannot reasonably doubt but that the Animal Spirits of the Mother produce in the Brain of the Infant many traces by their irregular emotions Now the great traces of the Brain and the emotion of the Spirits which answer to them continuing a long time and sometimes all the life it is certain that as there are few Women who have not some weaknesses and who have not been moved with some Passion during their being with Child it cannot be expected but that there will be very few Children who are not ill inclined to something and who have not some predominant passion We have only too much experience of these things and all the World is sensible that there are whole Families who are afflicted with great weakness of Imagination which they have drawn from their Parents but it is not necessary here to give any particular Examples thereof On the contrary 't is more proper for the consolation of some Persons to assure 'em that those weaknesses of the Parents not being Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the traces and impressions of the Brain which are the cause of them may be effaced by time We may yet add here the Example of King James I. of England of whom Sir Kenelm Digby speaks in his Book which he writ of the Sympathetic Powder He tells us that Mary Stuart being with Child of King James some Scotch Lords entred her Chamber and in her presence killed her Secretary who was an Italian altho' she cast her self before him to hinder them that this Princess received some slight hurts by them and the frights she had made so great an impression in her Imagination that she communicated it to the Child in her Womb So that King James cou'd never endure to see a Naked Sword He says that he himself was a witness of it for when he was Knighted this Prince coming to lay the Sword upon his Shoulder run it strait at his Face and had wounded him if some body had not directed it aright where it ought to be There are so many instances of the like Nature that 't would be needless to search Authors for them I believe there is no body that will dispute these things for we see a
all those that 〈…〉 had whilst in the Womb. For since it every day 〈◊〉 that a great pain causes us to forget those that 〈…〉 it is not possible but that such lively 〈…〉 Children receive the first time the impression of 〈◊〉 is made upon the delicate organs of their 〈…〉 efface the greatest part of the traces that they haâ—â— received from the same objects only by a kind of 〈◊〉 stroke when they were as it were covered in their Mothers ' Womb. Yet when these traces are formed by a strong passion and accompanied with a violent agitation of the Blood and Spirits in the Mother they act with so much force on the Child's Brain and on the rest of its body that they imprint there Traces as deep and lasting as Natural ones As in the Example of Sir Kenelm Digby in the Child that became a Fool and all broken in the Brain and all the Members in which the Imagination of the Mother had produced such great disorders and likewise in the example of the general corruption of Man's Fature Nor is it to be wondered if the Children of King James had not the same weakness as their Father First because these sort of Traces are never imprinted so far into the rest of the Body as the Natural ones are Secondly because the Mother not having the same weakness with the Father she hinder'd its happening through the goodness of her Constitution and because the Mother acts insinitely more upon the Brain than the Father does as is evident by what has been already said But it must be observed that all these reasons which prove that the Children of King James cou'd not participate of the weakness of their Father prove nothing against the Explanation of Original Sin or this powerful Inclination for Sensible Things nor this great distance from God which we hold from our first Parents because the Traces that sensible Objects have imprinted in the Brain of the first Man were very deep and were accompanied and augmented with violent Passions and fortified by the continual use of sensible Things and such as were necessary to the preservation of life not only in Adam and Eve but also which must be well observed in the greatest Saints in all Men and all Women from whom we descend so that there is nothing which can put a stop to this corruption of Nature So far are these Traces of our first Fathers from being effaced by little and little that on the contrary they are augmented daily and without the Grace of JESVS CHRIST which continually opposes this torrent what this Heathen Poet has said wou'd be absolutely true Aetas Parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nequiores mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem For it must be well observed that those impressions that stir up Sentiments of Piety in the most Devout Mothers do not communicare it to their unborn Infants and that on the contrary the Traces which excite the Idea of sensible Things and which are followed lowed with Passions fail not to communicate to the Infants the Sensation and Love of Sensible Things A Mother for Instance who is excited to love God by the Motion of the Spirits which accompany the Trace of the Image of a venerable Old Man because this Mother has united the Idea of God to this Trace of the Old Man for as we shall soon see in the Chapter of the connexion of Idea's that it may easily be done altho' there is no relation between God and the Image of an Old Man This Mother I say can only produce in the Brain of her Child the Trace of an Old Man and an inclination for Old Men which is not the love of God wherewith she was affected For indeed there is no Traces in the Brain which can of themselves stir up any other Idea's than those of Sensible Things because the Body is not made to Instruct the Mind and speaks not to the Soul as to it self Thus a Mother whose Brain is filled with Traces which by their nature relate to sensible things and which she cannot efface since concupiscence still remains in her because her Body is not brought under subjection necessarily communicates them to her Child and begets it a sinner altho' she be righteous This Mother is righteous because actually loving or having loved God by a love of choice this concupiscence makes her no longer criminal altho' she shou'd follow the Motions thereof in her sleep But the Child she begets not loving God by a love of choice and its heart not being turned towards God it is evident that it is subject to disorder and irregularity and that there is nothing in it which deserves not the wrath of God But when they are regenerated by Baptism and have been justified either by a disposition of heart like to that which remains in righteous Persons during the illusions of the Night or it may be by a free act of love to God as they have made being delivered some moments from the dominion of the Body through the power of this Sacrament for as God hath made them to love him we cannot conceive that they are actually in the righteousness and order of God if they love him not or have not loved him or at least if their heart is not disposed after the same manner as it wou'd be if they actually loved him Then altho' they submit to concupiscence during their Infancy their concupiscence is no longer Sin it makes them no longer guilty and worthy of wrath they cease not to be righteous and agreeable to God by the same reason as we do not lose Grace altho' in our sleep we shou'd follow the Motions of concupiscence for the Brain of Infants is so soft and they receive so lively and strong impressions of the weakest Objects as they have not sufficient freedom of Mind to resist them But I stay too long upon these things which do not absolutely belong to the subject I treat of 'T is enough that I may conclude here from what I have explained in this Chapter that all these false Traces See the Explanations that Mothers imprint in the Brain of their Children make their Minds false and corrupt their Imagination and that thus the generality of Men are subject to imagine things otherwise than they are in giving some false colour or irregular draught to the Idea's of those things they perceive CHAP. VIII I. The changes that happen to the Imagination of a Child after it is Born by the Conversation it has with its Nurse its Mother and other Persons II. Advice how to Educate it well IN the precedent Chapter we have consider'd the Brain of an Infant whilest in the Womb let us now examine what happens to it as soon as it is Born In the same time that it quits Darkness and first sees Light the cold of the outward Air seizes it the tenderest embraces of the Woman that receives it offends its delicate Members all external Objects
sola substantia rationalis Quare omnia per ipsam sed ad ipsam non nisi anima rationalis Itaque substantia rationalis per ipsam facta est ad ipsam Non enim est ulla natura interposita Lib. Imp. de Gen. ad Litt. St. Austin for Truth to which alone it is immediately united It is true the Soul is united to the Body and is naturally the Form of it but it is also true that it is united to God after a much stricter and more Essential manner The relation it has to its Body might not be but the relation it has to God is so Essential that it is impossible to conceive that God could create a Spirit without that Relation It is evident that God can only Act for himself that he can only Create Spirits to Know and Love him that he can neither give them any Knowledge nor imprint any Love in them but what is for him and what tends towards him But he was not oblig'd to unite Spirits to Bodies as he has done Therefore the * Rectissimè dicitur factus ad imaginem similitudinem Dei non enim aliter incommutabilem veritatem posset mente conspicere De vera Rel. Relation which our Minds have to God is Natural Necessary and absolutely Indispensible but the Relation of our Spirits to our Bodies though Natural is neither absolutely Necessary nor Indispensible This is not a proper place to set forth all the Authorities and Reasons which may induce us to believe that it is more suitable to the Nature of our Mind to be united to God than to a Body these things would lead us too far To place this Truth in a just Light it would be necessary to destroy the Principal Foundations of Heathen Philosophy to explain the Disorders of Sin to engage what is falsly called Experience and to argue against the Prejudices and Illusions of the Senses Therefore to make the common sort of Mankind apprehend this Truth perfectly is too hard a Task to attempt in a Preface Nevertheless it is not difficult to prove it to attentive Minds which are acquainted with true Philosophy for it is enough to put them in mind that since the Will of God regulates the Nature of every thing it is more suitable to the Nature of the Soul to be united to God by the Knowledge of Truth and the Love of Good than to be united to a Body since it is certain as above that God has created Spirits to Know and Love him rather than to Inform Bodies This Proof is able at first sight to startle Ingenious Minds then to render them attentive and lastly to convince them But it is morally Impossible that Sensualiz'd Spirits who can know nothing but what is felt should ever be convinc'd by such Arguments These sort of Men must have gross sensible Proofs because nothing seems real to them unless it makes an Impression upon their Senses The Fall of the first Man has so much weakned the * Mens quod non sentit nisi cum purissima beatisma est nulla Cohaeret nisi ipsi veritati quae similitudo Imago patris sapientia dicitur Aug. lib. Imp. de Gen. ad Litt. Vnion of our Mind with God that none but those are sensible of it whose Heart is purified and whose Mind is inlightned for this Vnion seems Imaginary to all those who blindly follow the Judgments of the Senses and the Motions of the Passions On the contrary it has so much strengthned the Vnion of our Soul with our Body that these two parts of our selves seem to us to be no longer but one and the same Substance or rather it has made us such Slaves to our Senses and Passions that we are inclin'd to believe our Body is the Principal of the two Parts of which we are composed When we consider the different Employments of Men we have a great deal of reason to believe that they have a mean and low Opinion of themselves for as they all love Felicity and the Perfection of their Being and only labour to make themselves Happier or more Perfect have we not reason to believe that they have a greater Value for their Body and the Goods of their Body than for their Mind and the Goods thereof when we see them commonly imploy'd about things that have a Relation to the Body seldom or never thinking on those which are absolutely necessary for the Perfection of the Mind The greatest part of Men labour with so much Industry and Toil only to maintain a miserable Life and to leave their Children some necessary Conveniencies for the Preservation of their Bodies Those who by the good Fortune or Chance of their Birth are not subject to this Necessity do not shew better by their Business and Imployments that they look upon their Soul as the noblest part of their Being Hunting Dancing Gaming Entertainments are their common Imployments their Soul being a Slave to their Body Esteems and Cherishes all those Divertisements though altogether Vnworthy of it but because their Body has a relation to all Sensible Things the Soul is not only inslav'd to the Body but also to all sensible things by the Body and for the Body for 't is by the Body that Men are united to their Relations their Friends their Country their Imployments and to all sensible Enjoyments the Preservation of which seems to them as necessary and as valuable as the Preservation of their own Being Thus the Care of their Estates and the Desire of increasing them the Passion of Glory and Grandeur agitates and imploys them infinitely more than the perfecting of their Soul Moreover the Learned and those who pretend to Wit spend more than half their Life in Actions purely Animal or such as incline us to think that they value their Health their Estate and their Reputation more than the Perfection of their Mind They study more to attain a Chimerical Grandeur in the Opinion of other Men than increase the Power and Capacity of their Mind They make their Heads a kind of Wardrobe in which they Store up without choice or order whatever bears any Character of Learning I mean whatever may appear Rare and Extraordinary and excite the Admiration of other Men. They are proud of being like those Cabinets of Curiosity and Antiquity which have nothing Rich or Solid in them the Value whereof only depends on Fancy Passion and Chance and they seldom labour to improve their Mind and to regulate the Motions of their Heart Yet it is not that Men are wholly Ignorant they have a * Non exigua hominis portio sed totius Humana Universitatis substantia est Amb. 6. Hexa 7. Soul and that this Soul is the chief part of their Being They have also been convinc'd a thousand times by Reason and Experience that it is no very considerable Advantage to have some Reputation Riches and Health for some Years and generally that all the
Eye must be lengthned by pressing the sides closer together and on the contrary it must be compess'd if the Objects are too far off By this Experiment 't is plain that we ought to judge or be sensible of the Colours at the bottom of our Eyes after the same manner as we judge the Heat to be in our Hand if our Senses were given us to discover the truth and if we were guided by Reason in the Judgments we make upon the Objects of our Senses But to be able to give a Reason for the variety of our Judgments upon sensible Qualities 't is necessary that we consider how strictly the Soul is united to the Body and that it is so sensualized since Original Sin that many things are attributed to it which belong to the Body and that it is now hardly to be distinguished from it so that it ascribes to it not only all its Sensations which we are speaking of but also the force of Imagining and even sometimes the power of Reasoning For there has been a great number of Philosophers that have been ignorant and foolish enough to believe that the Soul was only a more fine and subtile part of the Body If we read Tertullian we shall soon see too many proofs of what I say since we shall find him of the same Opinion with a great number of Authors whom he Cites It is true in the Book of the Soul he endeavours to prove that Faith Scripture and even particular Revelation oblige us to believe that the Soul is Corporeal I will not refute these Opinions because I have already supposed that we ought to have read fome of St. Augustin or Descartes Works which wou'd have sufficiently shewn the extravagancy of these Thoughts and also wou'd have confirm'd the Mind in the distinction betwixt Extention and Thought betwixt the Soul and Body The Soul is then so blind that she is ignorant of her self and does not see that her own Sensations belong to her II. An Explanation of the three kinds of the Sensations of the Soul To explain this we must distinguish three sorts of Sensations in the Soul some strong and lively others weak and languishing and some again in the medium between both The strong and lively Sensations are those which surprize the Mind and awaken it with some force because they are either very agreeable or very troublesome such as are Pain or Pleasure Heat or Cold and generally all such as are not only accompanied with Impressions in the Brain but also with some Motions of the Spirit such as are proper for the exciting the Passions as shall afterwards be explained The Weak and Languishing Sensations are those which very little affect the Soul and which are neither very agreeable nor very troublesome as a Moderate Light all Colours Ordinary Sounds which are very weak c. And the Medium between both I call those sort of Sensations which indifferently touch the Soul as a great Light a violent Sound c. Now it is to be observed that a Weak and Languishing Sensation may become indifferent and afterwards strong and lively For Example the Sensation that we have of Light is weak when the Light of a Flambeau is weak and languishing or very far from us and afterwards this Sensation may become indifferent if the Flambeau be brought near enough to us and at last it may become very strong and lively if the Flambeau be brought so near our Eyes that they be dazled with it or else when we look upon the Sun Thus the Sensation of Light may be strong weak or moderate according to its different degrees These are then the Judgments that our Soul makes of these three sorts of Sensations V. Errors which accompany our Sensations wherein we may perceive that it almost always blindly follows the sensible Impressions or Natural Judgments of our Senses and that it is pleased if we may so say in dispersing it self over all the Objects that it considers and by divesting it self to cloath them The first of these Sensations is so lively and moving that the Soul can scarce hinder it self from acknowledging that in some respect they belong to it so that it does not only judge them to be in the Object but also believes them to be in the Members of the Body which it considers as a part of it self Thus it judges that Cold and Heat are not only in the Ice and Fire but that they are also in its own Hands The Languishing Sensations so little affect the Soul that it does not believe them to belong to it nor that they are either within it self or the Body but only in the Objects 'T is for this reason that we take away Light and Colours from our Soul and Eyes thereby to adorn External Objects with them although Reason teaches us that they are not in the Idea we have of Matter And Experience shews us we ought to judge them in our Eyes as well as upon Objects since we see them as well there as in the Objects as I have proved by the Instance of an Oxe's Eye placed at the hole of a Window Now the Reason why all Men do not immediately see that Colours Odours Taste and all other Sensations are only Modifications of their Soul is because we have no clear Idea of our Soul For when we know any thing by the Idea which represents it we clearly know all the Modifications it can have All Men agree for Example that Roundness is a Modification of Extension by a clear Idea which represents it See Chap. 7. 2d part of the 3d Book Thus not knowing our Soul by its Idea as I shall explain hereafter but only by the Internal Sentiment we have thereof we know not by a simple Sight but only by Reasoning whether Whiteness Light Colours and other Weak and Languishing Sensations are not Modifications of our Soul but for the lively Sensations such as Pain and Pleasure we easily judge they are within us because we are very sensible that they affect us and have no need to know them by their Ideas to perceive they belong us As for Indifferent Sensations the Soul is very much perplexed with them for on the one hand it wou'd follow the Natural Judgments of the Senses and therefore it removes from it as much as possible these sort of Sensations to attribute them to the Objects but on the other side it cannot avoid feeling within self that they belong to it especially when these Sensations come near those that I call strong and lively so that 't is after this manner that it guides it self in the Judgment it makes of them if a Sensation affects it very much it concludes it to be in its own Body as well as in the Object and if it touches it but a little the Soul believes it only in the Object And if this Sensation is exactly in the Medium between the Strong and Weak then it knows not what to
Correspondence and Sympathy which is found between the Nerves of the Face and some others that answer to other parts of the Body and which want a Name is yet more remarkable and that which produces this great Sympathy is that as in the other Passions the little Nerves that go to the face are only branches of that which descends lower When we are surprized with any violent Passion if we carefully reflect upon what we feel in our Bowels and the other parts of the Body where these Nerves infold themselves as also upon the changes which accompany it in the face and if we consider that all these diverse agitations of our Nerves are wholly involuntary and that they happen notwithstanding all the resistance our Will can make against them we shall not find it so difficult to suffer out selves to be perswaded of this plain Exposition that has been made of all those Relations the Nerves have one to another But if we examine the reasons and end of all these things we shall find therein so much Order and Wisdom that but a little serious attention will be requisite to convince those Persons that are the most Wedded to Epicurus and Lucretius that there is a Providence which rules the World When I see a Watch. I have reason to conclude that there is an Intelligence since it is impossible that Chance shou'd have produc'd and dispersed all its Wheels into order How then can it be possible that Chance and the meeting together of Atoms shou'd be able so justly and proportionably to dispose all those divers Springs as appear both in Man and other Animals And that Man and all other living Creatures shou'd beget others which bear such an absolute resemblance to them So it is ridiculous to think or say with Lucretius that 't is Chance that has form'd all the parts whereof Man is composed that the Eyes were not made to see but Men were induced to see because they had Eyes and so of the other parts of the Body These are his Words Lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata Prospicere ut possimus ut proferre viai Proceras passus ideo fastigia posse Surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari Bâ—achia tum porro validis exapta lacertis Esse manusque datus utrâque ex parte ministras Vt facere ad vitam possimus quae foret usus Caetera de genere hoc inter quaecumque pretantur Omnia perversà praepostera sunt ratione Nil ideo natu'est in nostro corpore ut uti Possimus sed quod natum est id procreat usum Must not one have a strange aversion for a Providence thus voluntarily to be blinded for fear of acknowledging it and endeavour to render our selves insensible to proofs so strong and convincing as those that Nature has furnished us with It is true that if once we come to affect being thought great Wits or rather Impious as the Epicureans have done we shall immediately find our selves surrounded with darkness and perceive only by false Lights boldly deny those things that are most clear and arrogantly and magisteriously affirm what is most false and obscure This Poet may serve for a proof of the blindness of these mighty Wits for he boldly determines tho' contrary to all appearance of Truth upon the most difficult and obscure Questions and it seems that he did not perceive even those Idea's that are most clear and evident If I shou'd stay to relate some more passages of this Author to justifie what I say I shou'd make too long and tedious a digression altho' it may be permitted to make such reflections as may for a moment divert the Mind from more essential Truths yet is it never permitted to make such digressions as for a considerable time take off the Mind from giving attention to the most important Subjects to apply it to trivial things CHAP. V. I. Of the Memory II. Of Habits WE have already explain'd the general Causes as well external as internal which produce any change in the Animal Spirits and by consequence in the faculty of Imagining we have show'd that the external are the Food which nourishes us and the Air we breath and that the internal consists in the involuntary agitation of certain Nerves We know of no other general Causes and even dare affirm there are none So that the faculty of Imagining depending in respect to the Body only upon these two things the Animal Spirits and the disposition of the Brain upon which they act there remains nothing more in order to the giving a perfect knowledge of the Imagination but only to shew the different changes that can happen in the substance of the Brain We will examine them after we have given some Idea of the Memory and of Habits that is of the faculty that we have of thinking of those things that we have before thought of and of acting things over again which we have already done Order requires this Method For the Explanation of the Memory I. Of the Memory 't is necessary to remember what has already been repeated so many times that all our different Perceptions depend upon the changes that happen to those Fibres that are in that part of the Brain in which the Soul more particularly resides This only supposed the nature of the Memory is explained for even as the Branches of a Tree which have continued sometime bent in a certain form still preserve an aptitude to be bent anew after the same manner So the Fibres of the Brain having once received certain impressions by the course of the Animal Spirits and by the action of Objects along time retain some facility to receive these same dispositions Now the Memory consists only in this facility since we think on the same things when the Brain receives the same impressions As the Animal Spirits act sometimes with more and sometimes with less force upon the substance of the Brain and that sensible Objects make a much greater impression than the Imagination alone it is easie from thence to discover why we do not equally remember all things we perceive For example why what one often perceives is commonly represented more lively to the Soul than what one perceives but once or twice why we remember more distinctly what we have seen than what we have only imagined and so likewise why one shou'd know better how the Veins are dispersed through the Liver after having but once seen a dissection of this part than after having many times read in a Book of Anatomy and other like things But if we shou'd reflect upon what hath been before said of the Imagination and the short discourse made on the Memory supposing us once delivered from this prejudice that our Brain is too small to preserve a very great number of traces and impressions we shall have the pleasure to discover the cause of all these surprizing effects of the Memory whereof St. Austine speaks with so much
by Conversion to the Phantasmes or Traces of the Brain So soon as the Soul would have the Arm to move the Arm is moved tho' it does not so much as know what it ought to do to make it move and so soon as the Animal Spirits are agitated the Soul finds it self mov'd tho' it does not so much as know there are Animal Spirits in the Body When I come to treat of the Passions I shall speak of the Connexion between the Traces of the Brain and the Motions of the Spirits and of that between the Idea's and Emotions of the Soul for that all the Passions depend upon it My business here is only to treat of the affinity between Idea's and Traces and the Connexion of the Traces one with another There are three very considerable Causes of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces Three considerable Causes of the union between the Idea's and Traces the first and most general is the Identity of Time For frequently it suffices that we had certain Thoughts at such time as some new Traces came into our Brain so that those Traces cannot be produced again without renewing the same Thoughts If the Idea of God present it self to my Mind at the same time that my Brain was struck with the sight of these three Characters Iah or with the sound of the Word it self 't is enough if the Traces which those Characters have produc'd be excited to make me think of God And I cannot think of God but there will be produc'd in my Brain some confused Traces of the Characters or Sounds which accompany'd the Thought which I had of God for the Brain being never without Phantasmes there are always such as have some Relation to what we think tho' many times these Phantasmes are very imperfect and very confus'd The second Cause of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces and which always supposes the first is the Will of Man This Will 〈◊〉 necessary that this connexion of the Idea's with the Traces may be regulated and proper for Use For if Men had not Naturally an Inclination to agree between themselves to affix their Idea's to Sensible Signs not only this Connexion of Idea's wou'd be absolutely unprofitable for Society but it would be also very Irregular and Imperfect First because Idea's are never strongly united with the Traces but when the Spirits being agitated they render those Traces deep and durable So that the Spirits being never agitated but by the Passions if Men had no such Union to communicate their Sentiments and participate of those of others 't is evident that the exact Union of their Idea's with certain Traces would be very weak because they do not subject themselves to those Exact and Regular Connexions but to render themselves Intelligible Secondly the Repetition of the Meeting of the same Idea's with the same Traces being necessary to form a Connexion that may be of long continuance since the meeting unless it be accompany'd with a violent Motion of the Animal Spirits suffices not to make strong Connexions 't is clear that if Men should refuse to assent it would be the greatest Chance in the World if the same Traces and Idea's should meet together so that the Will of Man is necessary to regulate the Connexion of the same Idea's with the same Traces tho' this Will of Agreement be not so much an effect of their Choice and Reason as an Impression of the Author of Nature who has made us altogether one for another and with a strong Inclination to unite in Mind as well as in Body The third Cause of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces is the Constant and Immutable Nature or Will of the Creator For example There is a Natural Connexion and which depends not upon our Will between the Traces produc'd by a Tree or Mountain which we behold and the Idea's of a Tree or Mountain between the Traces which the Cries of a Man or Beast that suffer Pain beget in our Brain the Air of one who threatens us or of whom we stand in fear and the Idea's of Grief of Strength or Weakness as also between the Sentiments of Compassion of Fear and Courage which are excitedin us These Natural Bands are the strongest of all they are generally alike in all Men and they are absolutely necessary for the Preservation of Life For which reason it is that they depend not upon our Will for if the Band or Connexion of Idea's with certain Sounds and Characters be but feeble and very different in several Countries 't is because it depends upon the weak and changeable Will of Men. And the reason why it depends upon it is because this Connexion is not absolutely necessary for Life but only for living like Men that are to form among themselves a Rational Society Here we must observe that the Connexion of Idea's that represent to us Spiritual Things and such as are distinct from us with the Traces of our Brain is not nor can be Natural and by consequence it is or may be different in all Men for that it has no other Cause than their Will and the Identity of Time of which I have spoken before On the other side the Connexion of the Idea's of all Material Things with certain particular Traces is Natural and hence there are certain Traces that stir up the same Idea in all Men. For Example there is no question but that all Men have the Idea of a Square upon the sight of a Square because that Connexion is Natural but 't is to be doubted whither all Men have that Idea when they hear the Word Square pronounced because that Connexion is entirely voluntary The same thing may also be thought of all Traces that are tyed to the Idea's of Spiritual Things But because the Traces which have a Natural Connexion with Idea's do affect the Mind and consequently render it attentive the greatest part of Men do easily enough comprehend and retain Sensible Truths that is the mutual Relations that are between Bodies On the other side because the Traces that have no other Connexion with the Idea's then what is voluntary do never vigorously strike the Mind 't is not without a great deal of trouble that all Men Comprehend and with much more difficulty retain abstracted Truths that is the mutual Relations between things that fall not under the Imagination But when these Relations are never so little compounded they appear absolutely Incomprehensible especially to those that are not accustomed to them in regard they have not fortify'd the Connexion of those abstracted Idea's with their Traces by continual Meditation and tho' others have perfectly comprehended them they forget them in a short time because this Connexion is seldom or never so strong as the Natural one It is so true that all the trouble Men have to comprehend and retain Spiritual and Abstracted Things proceeds from the difficulty of fortifying the Connexion of their Idea's
accompanied with the Emotions of the Spirits because all things which we see do not appear to us always either Good or Evil. These Connexions also may alter and break off because not being always requisite for the Preservation of Life they ought not always to be the same But there are Traces in our Brains that are Naturally united one with another as also with certain Emotions of the Spirits because such a Connexion is necessary for the Preservation of Life and their Connexion cannot be broken off or at least not very easily because it 's convenient that it should be always the same For Example the Trace of a Precipice which a Man sees under himself and from which he is in danger of falling or of some great Body which is ready to fall upon us and crush us to Death is Naturally join'd to the Trace which represents Death as also to an Emotion of the Spirits which disposes us to fly or desire an Escape This Connexion of Traces never changes because it is necessary that it should be always the same and it consists in a Disposition of the Fibres of the Brain which we have from our Birth All those Connexions which are not Natural may and ought to be broken because the various Circumstances of Time and Place ought to alter them so that they may be useful to the Preservation of Life 'T is convenient for Example that Partridges should fly from Men with Birding-Pieces in their Hands especially at such times and in such places where Men are accustomed to Hunt after them but it is not necessary that they should fly at other times and in other places Thus for the Preservation of all Creatures 't is necessary that there should be certain Connexions of Traces which may be easily form'd and destroy'd and that there should be others which may not be broken without great difficulty And lastly others which are never to be broken 'T is very useful to enquire carefully into the different Effects which these different Connexions are capable of producing for they are very numerous and of great importance for the Understanding of Man and of all things between him and which there is any Relation We shall find in the sequel of this Discourse that these Things are the Principal Cause of our Errors But 't is time to return to what we promis'd to treat of and to explain the different Changes that befal the Imagination of Men by reason of their various Manner of Living CHAP. IV. I. That Studious Men are the most subject to Error II. The Reasons why they rather choose to follow Authothority than make use of their Judgment THE Differences that are in the various Manners of Mens Living are almost Infinite There are a great Number of different Conditions Employments and Societies These Differences are the reason that almost all Men pursue different Designs and argue upon different Principles It would be very difficult to meet with several Persons who have absolutely the same Prospects in one and the same Community wherein particular Persons ought to be all of the same Spirit and have the same Designs Their different Employs and Conversation do necessarily give a different Turn and Humour in the way of Managing the Execution of those Things in which they agree This shews that it would be an impossible Undertaking to particularize the Moral Causes of Error But besides it would be of no use to do it here 't is our business only to speak of such Manners of Living as betray Men into the greatest Number of Errors and to such as are of the highest Importance When we shall have Explained those we shall have open'd a Way sufficient to enable the Mind to proceed farther and every body may be able to Survey at once and very easily the most bidden Causes of several particular Errors which cannot be explain'd but with a great deal of Time and Labour When the Mind sees clearly it delights it self with pursuing Truth which it does with an inexpressible swiftness I. That Studicus Persons are the mst subject to Error The Employment which seems most necessary to be treated of in this place because it produces the most considerable changes in the Imagination of Men and which lead us most into Error is the Employment of Studious Persons who make more use of their Memory than Wit For Experience always shews us that they who apply themselves most eagerly to the Reading of Books and to Search after Truth are those who have lead us into the greatest number of Errors 'T is the same thing with those that Study as with those that Travel When a Traveller by misfortune has taken the wrong Road the farther he advances the more remote he is from the Place whither he designs to go and the more diligent and hasty he is to arrive to the end of his Journey the more he wanders out of the way In like manner those ardent desires which Men have for Truth cause 'em to precipitate themselves into the Reading of Books where they think to find it or to frame to themselves a Chimerical Systeme of things which they desire to know for which they have a strong fancy and which they endeavour by the vain Efforts of Wit to make others relish to the end they may receive the Honour which is usually due to the Inventors of Systemes Now let us explain these two Defects 'T is a difficult thing to apprehend how it comes to pass that Men of Sense should rather choose to make use of other Persons Judgment in the Search of Truth than of that which God has bestow'd upon ' em Without doubt there is infinitely much more pleasure and honour for a Man to guide himself with his own than other Men's Eyes nor does any Man who has good Eyes ever dream of shutting 'em or of putting 'em out in hopes of one to guide him nevertheless 't is the same thing with the use of Judgment as with the use of the Eyes for as the Judgment is â—â—â—nitely above the Eyes the use of it is accompanied with satisfactions far more solid and which content it after another manner than Light and Colours do the Sight However Men always make use of their own Eyes to be their Guides but they seldom or never make use of their own Judgment to discover the Truth But there are several Causes which contribute to this same Perturbation of the Mind II. Reasons why they rather choose to follow Authority than make use of their own Judgement First the Natural Sloath of Men that will not give themselves the Trouble of Meditation Secondly Their Inability of Meditating into which they are fallen for want of applying themselves to it in their Youth as has been shew'd in the Ninth Chapter In the third place the little Love Men have for Abstracted Truths which are the foundation of every thing that is to be known here below In the fourth place the Satisfaction that Men