a free passage into them How can this be done unless they be animate for the faculties of the Soul are not separated from her Some indeed have maintain'd that they convey'd not the faculties but only a certain quality which put them into the exercise and without which they could not act But they do not make it out of what nature that quality is and there is no great probability that one single quality should relate to so many different faculties and functions But how ere it be the greatest Philosophers who have examin'd these matters to the bottome have found themselves so much at a loss to give a reason of the motion of the Spirits according to the common opinion have ingenuously acknowledg'd that it is one of the hardest things to comprehend of any in Nature and all they have said thereof hath neither satisfy'd themselves nor those who would have follow'd their sentiments What inconvenience then is there in maintaining that the Spirits are animate since that position takes away the difficulties which arise in others and that there is a necessity the Organs which act with so much discernment and move in all situations and perform so many different actions should have in themselves a principle of life Art 1. Objections answered ALl this presuppos'd there remain yet two things which hold the mind in suspence and keep it from giving an absolute consent to this truth One is that there is no likelihood that bodies which are in perpetual motion and disperse themselves every moment can be animate The other that life which ought to be common to all the parts cannot be found in those that are separated from their whole and that the Spirits are of that rank as having not any union or continuity with the solid parts As to the former it is not certain that they alwaies disperse themselves so suddenly as is affirm'd Those Spirits which conduct the blood through the veins are conserv'd a long time and make the same circulation as the other doth and it is frequently observ'd that after they have apply'd themselves to some part and there acted according to the orders of the Soul they fall back and return to their source But be it granted that they should so disperse themselves why may they not be nevertheless animate The long continuance is not a disposition necessary to life and there are some parts as the softest pieces of the Flesh which in a short time after they have been animated may be resolv'd and dispers'd by a violent heat As soon as the Spirits have acquir'd the dispositions necessary for their being instruments of the Soul she insinuates her self among them and animates them When they are dispers'd or have lost the continuity which they ought to have with their principle she leaves them after the same manner as she does other parts that are separated from the Body But what Can the Soul animate such a simple and homogenious body as the Spirits are Why not since she animates the radical moisture the Flesh the Fibres and all the other similar parts When it is said that the Soul requires an organical Body it is meant of the whole Body which she is to animate and not of its parts which ought to be simple Nay indeed there was a necessity that as most of these parts are fixt and solid so there should be some apt to motion and subtile to perform the severall functions for which it is design'd and since the Soul is alwaies in action it was requisite she had an Organ that should continually move Art 2. The union between the Spirits and the Parts AS concerning the union there is between the Spirits and the other parts there is no doubt to be made of it since the least interruption that happens therein causes an immediate cessation of the actions of life For hence proceed faintings and swoundings and Syncopes in the excess of joy and grief the Spirits being forc'd with such impetuosity that they lose the continuity which they ought to have with the Heart Hence also proceed Apoplexies by the interception of the veins as Hippocrates speaks the matters which are therein contained obstructing the fluxion of the Spirits and interrupting the union which was between them and the others But with what can they be united so as to participate of the union which is common to the whole body It is no doubt with the spirituous parts which enter into the composition of the Heart it is with the fixt Spirits which are of the same nature with them And 't is possible this may be the end for which the beating of the Heart serves For by the agitation it gives them it makes them penetrate one into another it binds and soders and cements them together if we may use such expressions of things so subtile Art 3. How the foresaid union is consistent with the intermixture of the Spirits with the blood and humours ALl that is now left to give occasion of doubt is that the Spirits are intermixt with the blood and humours and that it is a hard matter to comprehend how in this intermixture they can conserve the union which ought to be between them But to take away this we are only to represent to our selves the light which passes through the clouds for it hath certain beams which cannot pass through them and those that make their way through appear at certain distances one from another yet so as that not any one of them loses the continuity which it hath with the luminous body Or not to go out of the order of Bodies the case is the same as in those exhalations which are intermixt with the Air they have several lines which are diffus'd of all sides but those lines have commonly a continuity with the matter from which the exhalation proceeds The same thing is to be imagin'd in the Spirits for they issue out of the heart as a mass of beams and spirituous lines which scatter themselves on all sides and penetrate into the humours yet without any division from their principle And this is the more easily imagin'd in that besides the difficulty which things of the same nature find to be separated one from the other the Soul who knows that this interpretation of the Spirits must cause a cessation of all actions does all that lies in her power to prâ—vent it But whether the Spirits be animate or not certain it is that they move and that it is the Soul which gives them their motion For though it may be said that they derive their agitations in the Passions from the Heart by reason it opens shuts dilates and contracts it self as they do and that it is most likely that it being the principle both of life and the Spirits themselves should also be the same principle of aâ—l their motions yet we know by experience that there are many Passions rais'd in the Soul so as that there can be no change observ'd in the beating
of the Heart and Arteries though no doubt but the Spirits are therein agitated And indeed they are bodies so light and susceptible of motion that the least agitation of the Soul must needs stirr them Which thing cannot be said of the Heart which is massy and heavy of it self and hath a function so necessary to life that it ought not without great necessity or a great effort to interrupt or disturb it In light Passions therefore the Spirits only are agitated and stirr'd but when they become strong not only the Spirits but the Heart also follows the emotion and disturbance of the Soul SECT 2. Why the Heart and Spirits move in the Passions BUt what end does the Soul propose to her self in all these motions What advantages can she receive thereby It is not to be doubted but that as she hath a design to be united to the good and to shun or oppose the evil so does she imploy these Organs to attain those ends and believes that the motions she puts them upon are absolutely necessary thereto And it is true there are some which produce the effect she expects from them but there are also some that contribute nothing to the obtaining of her desires For example when in Anger the Spirits separate the venome and the choler and convey them into the teeth and tusks of animals it is certain they are so many offensive arms fit to assault and destroy the enemy When in Love and Joy the Spirits stirr the purest and gentlest part of the blood that is conformable to the condition the Soul is in which then requires only agreeable objects would not be disturbed by the agitation of choler and melancholy which are troublesome and malignant humours And so it may be affirm'd that in all the other Passions the Spirits are put upon such motions as are conducible to the designs of the Soul as we shall make it appear when we come to discourse of every one of them in particular But for one of this nature there are a thousand others which are no way advantageous and which rather serve to discover the precipitation and blindness the Soul is in then to obtain what she proposes to her self For that the Heart opens and dilates it self in Love and Joy that it shuts and contracts it self in Fear and Sadness That the Spirits should diffuse themselves and issue out in the former and that they should retreat and draw up together in the latter all this contributes nothing towards the attainment of her end I know her persuasion is that opening the heart she makes a freer passage for the Good to enter in that shutting it she excludes the Evil that commanding the Spirits to march out she imagines that she comes neerer the objects and ordering them to retreat to the Heart she is at so much the greater distance from them But the troth on 't is that neither Good nor Evil enter into the Heart and the motion of the Spirits causes not a greater or a lesser distance between the Soul and them then there was before For it being acknowledg'd that she is spread over the whole Body she is already where the Spirits conduct her and quits not those places from which they endeavour to remove her Yet are we not much to wonder at the errour she falls into upon those occasions for having not an exact knowledge of all things that concern her she is surpris'd by the unexpected arrival of the Good and Evil which present themselves to her and in the distraction they put her into she does all that lies in her power she bestirs her self and sets her organs in motion according to the aim she takes and among many things which contribute to her design she does an hundred others that are of no advantage thereto nay may be prejudicial In the actions which are ordinary to her and have been ascrib'd her by Nature she is very seldom deceived for she regularly commands the Spirits into the parts to inspire them with vital heat to supply them with the blood whereby they are to be nourish'd to make the evacuations which are necessary it being the instinct which guids her and justly appoints her what she ought to do But when this assistance fails her she does as a man who punctually executes what he finds in his Instructions but is extreamly at a loss when he is to do something which he finds not in his papers He then regulates himself according to what he had done before upon the like occasions and being in hast he hazards the success of the affair which sometimes comes to a good period but most commonly happens otherwise then the man had imagin'd The case is the same with the Soul when Good and Evil surprise her For she not finding in the instructions of the Instinct what she ought to do upon such occasions proceeds according to her ordinary manner of action she causes the Spirits to advance forwards or retreat as she is wont to do in the necessary actions of life and considering the precipitation she is in and the little knowledg she hath she has neither the time nor discernment to see whether they will be advantageous or disadvantageous to her design SECT 3. What Faculty it is that moves the Spirits IT is therefore manifest that the Soul causes the Spirits to move to the end they should communicate the vital heat to all the parts that they should supply them with the blood whereby they are to be nourish'd and that they should transport the humours from one place to another when she thinks it necessary as it happens in the Passions in Crises and others The question now is to know what part of the Soul gives them their motions whether the Vegetative or the Sensitive As to the distribution of the vital heat and aliment as also for the transportation of the humours in diseases it is most certain that the Vegetative soul is the principle of all these actions But the difficulty still remains concerning the motions of the Spirits in Passions For on the one side it seems that the sensitive Soul ought to move them since she it is that excites the Passions that they move in effect with a respect to the sensible Good and Evil and that they propose to themselves the same end as she does On the other side the motions of the sensitive Soul are voluntary and may or may not be made at the pleasure of the animal as may be seen in the motion of the Members In the mean time that which the Spirits suffer is necessarily made and the Soul can neither excite nor hinder it when she pleases So that it seems that belongs to the jurisdiction of the Vegetative Soul and that in the association there is between the faculties and the mutual assistance they give each other this latter is joyn'd with the Sensitive to promote its possession of the good or recession from the evil which presents it self to
her Notwithstanding these last reasons whereto it is no hard matter to answer we must stick to the former which prove that it is the Sensitive Soul that causes the Spirits to move in the Passions True it is that the motions of the Vegetative are many times joyn'd with hers as we find by experience in extraordinary Griefs but it is when the Good and Evil are considerable and make so deep an impression that they force their way quite to her for when they are light she is not mov'd thereat and leaves the Sensitive part to act alone which yet fails not to stir the Spirits In effect they are the general Organs of all the functions of the Soul and all the faculties what order soever they are of equally employ them in their service They are serviceable as to life sentiment motion nay reason it self and in the highest meditations they are stirr'd as well as in natural actions They are like an Instrument whereof divers Artizans make use in several works For as the same pair of Compasses wherewith a Mason hath taken his measures serves the Geometrician to draw his figures and the Astronomer to measure the Heavens and the Stars So the Spirits which have serv'd the natural faculty for the meanest actions of life are employ'd by the sensitive Soul in the animal functions and the Understanding it self makes use of them in operations of the highest consequence But what their motion is not free in the Passions as it might seem it ought to be if the sensitive Appetite were Director thereof as it is of voluntary motions It matters not since even the Animal Spirits which flow through the nerves to make those motions and no doubt are mov'd by the sensitive Appetite have not their motion more free then that which is made in the Veins and Arteries The necessity of motion is many times found in the sensitive faculty as well as in the natural and though the Muscles be the Organs of free motion yet we find that respiration which is wrought by their means is necessary that the motion of the Heart which is as it were a composure of several Muscles and receives a Nerve from the Brain to give it sentiment and motion is not to be ranked among those that are voluntary Nay the Will it self notwithstanding that Soveraign liberty which it hath is not free in its first sallies and what time soever it may take to consider of the Good and Evil yet is it not in its power to hate the Good and love the Evil. Whence then proceeds this diversity Doubtless from the Instinct which is a Law that forces the Soul to do what it commands for the welfare of the Animal It is this Law that guids all the actions of the Natural faculty that assigns the sensitive Soul the motions which she ought to make not only those that are not to be balked as those of the Heart and Lungs and those of the Animal Spirits but also all those that are done casually wherein the knowledge of the Senses is of no advantage For though the motion of the Spirits in the Passions be not made precisely by it yet does the Soul cause them to do it according to the coppy which the Instinct gives her upon other occasions as we have shewn elswhere Art 1. Of what kind the motion of the Heart and Spirits is in the other Passions THus far as to what concerns the motion of the Heart and Spirits in the Passions of the sensitive Appetite we now come to examine whether it be performed after the manner in those of the Will and natural Appetite We may in the first place affirm that there are many Passions rais'd in the Will so as that neither the Heart nor Spirits are thereby stirr'd in regard it is a spiritual Faculty which may act of it self without the assistance of any Organ But it is to be observ'd that they must be very slight ones for when they come to be of any force they fail not both of them to be mov'd thereby as well as in the Passions of the sensitive Appetite Not but that the Will consider'd in it self might be able alone to excite the most violent Passions as we know it does in Angels But in Man in whom there is an union between the Corporeal and Spiritual faculties it is impossible but that one must assist and relieve the other when any considerable Good or Evil presents it self to either of them Which happens either hence that there is a necessary communication of their motions one to the other as we have declared or that the Soul upon such occasions is distrustful of her own strength and would rally together all the forces she hath Thence it comes that she thinks it not enough to move the sensitive Appetite in extraordinary Griefs to shun the Evil that presses hard upon her but she also excites sadness in the superiour part in order to the same design and as if all that were not sufficient she many times raises a Fever in the natural Faculty to force away and destroy that enemy As to the Passions of that inferiour part of the Soul there is not any one wherein the Spirits are not stirr'd but it is requisite they should be violent ere they can move the Heart For the case is not the same in them as in those of the other Appetites which though ever so much inclining to mediocrity are nevertheless capable of altering her motion Accordingly we find that in wounds and swellings the Spirits have their recourse thither with a certain impetuosity yet so as there happens not any change in the beating of the Heart and Arteries and there are considerable evacuations made in Crises without any alteration in those motions But in a Fever which is the choler of the natural Appetite in the Consternation which Nature is sometimes subject to in malignant diseases and in the agonies immediately preceding death there may be observ'd a remarkable alteration in the Pulse The reason of this difference proceeds from the nature of the Vegetative Faculty which is more material and consequently more heavy then the Sensitive For as a slothful person engages himself only in those things that are most easily done and never undertakes the more difficult but when he is thereto constrain'd by necessity So that faculty which is mov'd with some trouble thinks it enough in the lighter Passions to stirr the Spirits because they are easily mov'd but it attempts not therein the moving of the Heart by reason that is an Engine stirr'd with greater difficulty unless it be when the Evil seems considerable and that it thinks it requisite to imploy all its organs and all its force towards the resistance thereof SECT 4. How the Soul causes the Body to move BUt we are not yet come to the most difficult point of any in this whole matter to wit how the Soul gives motion to the Heart and Spirits and to express it in a
man requires not an excessive vivacity of Imagination nor an over-circumspect Judgment nor a too happy memory Nay it cannot bear with these sublime Spirits which are alwaies fixt on the contemplation of things high and difficult not only upon this account that having design'd man for society it expects he should equally apply himself to Contemplation and Action but principally in regard that it is impossible the body should have its natural perfection when it hath the dispositions requisite to sublimity of Spirit For the Body must needs be weak when the Spirit is too strong as the over-great strength of Body lessens and weakens the Spirits as we shall shew more at large hereafter The case is the same with all the other faculties for if the Appetite be too apt to move if the Senses too subtile if the Concoctive virtue the evacuative or retentive be too strong they are so many defects and irregularities they should all be proportionate to the equality of the Temperament which does not admit of these vicious perfections Art 3. That all the Faculties ought to be in a Mean ANd that this is true even in those faculties which are spiritual may be deduced hence That the action and the power ought to be conformable one to the other in as much as the action is only a progress and effusion of the active power If therefore actions cannot be perfect but so far as they are moderate it is necessary that the faculties should derive their perfection from their moderation But it is a receiv'd maxim in morality That actions to be virtuous ought to be in a mediocrity and consequently the faculties from which they proceed should also be in the same mediocrity Now the first spring of this mediocrity is the Indifference which is natural to the rational Soul for since the Action is conformable to the power the actions should be as indifferent as the other is and though it be determined by the action it does yet does it nevertheless preserve its indifference by the mediocrity which the action receives from it The reason is that what is in the mean is indifferent in respect of the extremities and that what is in the extremity is less indifferent and more determinated then what is in the mean as we have shewn already And thence proceeds the necessity there is of moderating the passions For though in other animals they are the more perfect the greater and stronger they are and that the more fearful a Hare is and the more cruel a Tigre the more perfect is each of them in its kind yet is not so in those of man in as much as they ought to be in a mean between excess and defect that they may be the more conformable to the indifference of the superiour part Art 4. That all natural Inclinations are defects I Conceive it will be no hard matter to apprehend and subscribe unto all these truths because they are maintain'd by reason and experience But there is yet another may be deduc'd from the same principles which I question not will be thought very strange though it be no less certain It is this That though there be some Inclinations which are good in themselves and deserve commendation such as those men have for the virtues yet are they defects and alter the natural perfection which is conformable to humane nature And certainly this will occur upon common observation and experience that those who have from their birth some excellent virtues have had them attended by greater vices for a man must needs fall into defects and imperfections so far as he is at a distance from perfection Now the perfection of man is to be indifferent and not determinated to any particular virtue he should be capable of all For the Virtues that come along with the birth are not real virtues they are only the initiatios of them or rather they are but inclinations which a man hath for them In a word they are bounds and limits confining the capacity of the Soul which is universal to a particular habit The Soul of its own nature is not determinated and ought to be capable of all humane actions And as it may know all things so is it requisite that the Appetite which follows her knowledg should have also the freedom to incline it self to all things And this universal capacity is at the same time an effect of the spirituality of her nature and the cause of the liberty she hath For if she were material she would be determinated and if she were not indifferent she should not be free The Inclinations therefore which man may have though they might be for the most excellent virtues are imperfections he ought not to have any for any one in particular but for all together And this is that which the Angel of the Scholes hath so judiciously deliver'd when he affirm'd That there is no Animal but hath some inclination to a Passion conformable to his nature but that man only is the mean of all and that it is requisite he should be equally susceptible thereof in as much as he is of his own nature indifferent and indeterminate To conclude since the Temperament and the Conformation of the parts are the two principal causes of natural Inclinations as we shall shew hereafter and that they make the Soul incline to those actions which are conformable to them it is not to be doubted but that the mediocrity and the mean which they ought to be guided by in man does also invest the Soul with an equal bent towards both the extremities Art 5. That every species hath its proper Temperament BUt it is to be observed that in the distribution of the Temperament made by Nature to Animals she hath in the first place considered their species and hath appointed every one that which was most convenient for it For example she hath assign'd a hot and dry Temperament for the species of the Lion a hot and moist for that of a Horse a cold and dry for that of an Asse and so all the rest But as she hath been careful of the conservation of these species and to that end hath bestow'd on them the two Sexes which were to receive different qualities she hath been oblig'd to divide this first Temperament and to give one part of it to the male and the other to the Female For though in the species of the Lyon the male and female are hot and dry yet is it certain that the female is such in a lower degree then the male and the same thing is to be said of all the rest It is therefore to be granted that the just and equal Temperament we have spoken of before is that which is most convenient to humane Nature But in as much as it was also requisite that the man and Woman should have different qualities that just Temperament was divided between them and without straying too much from that perfect Temperature the man hath receiv'd a
to be presupposed that every Appetite hath two parts the Concupiscible and the Irascible by the former it persues Good and shuns Evil by the latter it either opposes or complies with the difficulties which present themselves For as the Universe consists and is full of things contrary and opposite one to another so is there not any thing can continue in it without meeting with enemies which assault and endeavour to destroy it So that it was the work of the providence of Nature to bestow on every thing not onely the vertues which were necessary for the execution of its ordinary and as it were domestick Functions but also those which should secure it against the attempts of others and prevent the violences which it might be exposed to abroad Upon this account it is that all things have some qualities conducing to the preservation of their being and others enabling them to oppose what is contrary thereto and that the Animals wherein these vertues are more distinct have bestow'd on them two different Appetites the Concupiscible to seek out what is convenient for them and avoid what is hurtfull and the Irascible to resist Evil to ingage against and destroy it if there be a necessity In fine the Irascible is that part of the Soul which governs the forces of the Animal and manages them according as the Evil seems to require a weak or powerfull resistance Now these two parts of the Appetite may move either together or distinctly for in Grief onely the Coâ—cupiscible part is mov'd in Courage onely the Irascible but in Anger both are mov'd at the same time in as much as Anger is a combination of Grief and Courage When they move distinctly they frame Simple Passions when they move together they make mixt Passions Art 1. What the Simple Passions and how many there are THe Schools set down eleven Simple Passions iâ— the Concupiscible Appetite six to wit Love Hate Desire Aversion Pleasure and Grief and in the Irascible five to wit Hope Despair Confidence or Audacity Fear and Anger But we are to observe that in this division Constancy is forgotten which is a real Passion and serves for matter to the vertue of CONSTANCY Patience and Perseverance Obstinacy and Hardness of heart as also that among the Simple pasions Anger and Hope are numbred which no doubt are mixt passions the former consisting of Grief and Courage and Hope being framed of Desire and Constancy Moreover Aversion is propos'd as a Passion distinct from Hate though it be the same thing Nay indeed Desire ought not to have been put into the number as being a species of love and having not any motion different from that of the other Art 2. That there aro but eight simple Passions HAving therefore taken off these four passions and establish'd Constancy in their stead there remain but eight simple Passions four in the Concupiscible Appetite to wit Love Hate Pleasure and Grief and four more in the Irascible that is to say Audacity Fear Constancy and Consternation under which Despaire is comprehended Art 3. Why there are but eight simple Passions THis is the natural division of the Passions as being grounded on the several kinds of motions whereby the Soul is stirr'd for since the Passions are the motions of the Soul it is according to the diversity of the motions that the Passions ought principally to be distingish'd It is also easie to be comprehended by the consideration of the motions which the Spirits suffer in the Passions for being like those of the soul which communicates to them the agitation that she endures it is manifest after how many fashions soever the Spirits are moved so many several waies is the Soul also moved Now the Spirits are susceptible of four motions which are common to all natural bodies and are the first and simplest of all motions to wit those of Ascent Descent Rarefaction and Condensation For when they issue out of the heart to spread themselves into the exteriour parts the motion is from the centre to the circumference and that is to ascend and when they make their retreat into the heart 't is the contrary motion from the circumference to the centre that is descent they are rarified when they spread and are dilated and lastly they are condens'd when they are contracted in themselves The Appetite suffers proportionably the same motions for though it changes not place as they do and that its motions are interiour and immanent yet does it nevertheless cause those parts to move which are in the extension of the Soul so that one while it forces them to issue out another it makes them retreat in again one while it dilates another it contracts them When therefore chese four motions are made in the concupiscible Appetite they frame the four first Passions of that Appetite to wit Love Hate Pleasure and Grief For the Soul does as it were issue out of her self in Love she retires into her self in Hate she dilates her self in Pleasure and she contracts her self in Grief But when the same motions are made in the Irascible Appetite which is that part which hath a respect to the difficulties that encompass Good and Evil they frame the four first Passions of that Appetite to wit Audacity Fear Constancy and Consternation For in Audacity the Soul issues out as in Love in Fear she retires as in Hate in Constancy she contracts her self and is confirmed as in Grief and in Consternation she dilates herself and is enlarged as in Joy So that there is a resemblance between the motions of both Appetites and they differ only in reference to the power whereby they are excited and the end which the Soul proposes to herself therein For in Love the Soul issues out of her self in order to the embracing of the Good she persues but in Audacity she issues out of her self to engage the Evil she would oppose and so of the rest as we shall shew more particularly in the Discourse of every Passion and as may be observ'd in the several definitions we shall give of them in the subsequent Article Art 4. The Definitions of the Simple Passions THere are therefore according to the precedent deduction four Simple Passions in the Concupiscible Appetite to wit Love which is a motion of the Appetite whereby the Soul is inclin'd towards the Good in order to its union thereto Hate which is a motion of the Appetite whereby the Soul separates her self and recedes from the Evil. Pleasure which is a motion of the Appetite whereby the Soul is dilated and spreads her self into the Good in order to her more absolute possession thereof Grief which is a motion of the Appetite whereby the Soul contracts her self to shun the Evil that presses upon her The four other Passions which belong to the Irascible Appetite are Constancy which is a motion of the Appetite whereby the soul is fortifi'd and grows resolute in order to the resistance of those Evils which set
to motion then Levity and Rarity and consequently it is requisite that the Organ and first Subject of the Appetite should be of a rare and light matter and that it should be present in all those places where all the motions of the Appetite are made So that there not being any part whereto this may be attributed but only the Spirits it follows that the Appetite hath its residence in them as its first and chiefest subject But in regard there are two kinds of Spirits in general those that are fixt and restrain'd to some part which are the first Bonds whereby the Soul and Body are joyned together and those which are errant and unconfin'd which distribute to all the members the heat particularly assign'd them by the heart it is requisite that they should be the fixt Spirits that have the Prerogative of being the first subject of the Appetite for it is the part the most apt to motion of any that enter into the composition of the Members one that hath a durable and permanent consistence as the Appetite and is without dispute animate it being certain that the faculties of the Soul cannot be in a subject which is not animate For it is not to be imagin'd that the errant Spirits which are not only depriv'd of Soul and Life as it is commonly held but also have not any durable subsistence no more then the Flame which assoon as lighted is thence-forward continually decaying can support a Faculty of the Soul which is fixt and permanent as the Appetite is Whence it may be concluded that the Heart is indeed the Seat of the generall Appetite but it is by reason of the fixt Spirits which enter into its composition and the case is the same of every Member in reference to the particular Appetite Art 2. The Seat of the naturall Appetite ALl that we have said of the Sensitive Appetite may be apply'd to the Naturall Appetite For of this also there are two kinds one Generall which hath a care of the whole Body and is accordingly plac'd in the heart and this is the same with that which disperses the Spirits and humours into all the parts which shakes them in Fevers and makes the Crises and such like motions which regard the whole Body The other is Particular and hath its Seat in every part it attracts what is good for it it drives away what is hurtfull it causes the contraction of the Fibres the convulsion of the Nerves c. But whereas the Sensitive Appetite is not plac'd in the Heart and other parts but upon the accompt of the fixt Spirits which enter into their composition the case is the same with the Naturall Appetite they are also the same Spirits which serve it for a first subject and first Organ upon the same grounds as they are so of the other For since that part is the most apt to motion of any of the Vegetative Soul it should accordingly have a Subject furnished with the dispositions proper to make its motions and there are not any other then these Spirits as we said before I question not but some will make this Objection against what hath been deliver'd That diverse Faculties require diverse Organs and that these two Appetites being different not only in the Species but also in the Genus as belonging to several orders of the Soul cannot have for their subject the same Spirits But it is easily answer'd since we have experience on our side and opposite to these maximes for the same animal Spirits dispose of sentiment and motion the same Substance of the Brain becomes the subject of all the superiour powers of the Sensitive Soul and the flesh as simple as it is hath both the sensitive and vegetative vertue But after all the motion of the sensitive Appetite is not different from that of the naturall Appetite as to the nature and species of motion it is made after the same manner in both and all the diversity found therein is accidental and not relating to the motion For it proceeds only from the cause and condition of the object that moves it which are things not relating to the motion In the one it is the Sensitive faculty that moves for the sensible good or evil in the other the natural faculty moves for the natural good or evil but both move after the same manner and frame the same Passions as we have shewn and consequently there is not any inconvenience that these two powers should have the same Subject in order to the same action We have not any thing to add hereto save that according as the parts have a greater or lesser portion of these fixt Spirits they have proportionably one or the other Appetite more strong and vigorous As also that the general Appetite and particular Appetite do many times assist one the other and many times also they act distinctly But we shall ever and anon have occasion to hint at these matters when we come to treat of the Passions in particular Art 3. How the Passions are compleated NOw to put a period to that which appertains to the general discourse of the Passions we are to consider all the passes in the body after the emotion of the Soul and the fixt Spirits For though the nature of every Passion consists in this emotion yet may it be said that it is not compleat if there be not joyn'd thereto the agitation which the Heart endures and the alteration which is occasion'd in the whole body We are therefore to observe that after the Soul hath been mov'd the Heart and vital Spirits follow her motion and if she would execute without what she hath propos'd in her self she at last causes the Muscles to move in the Passions of the Will and sensitive Appetite and the Fibres in those of the natural Appetite in regard the Muscles are the instruments of voluntary motion as the Fibres are of that which is made by the natural Appetite But how these motions are made we shall treat more at large in the ensuing Chapter CHAP. IV. Of the Motion of the Heart and Spirits in the Passions THe motion of the Heart is made for the Spirits and that of the Spirits for the whole Body For the Heart is mov'd in order to the production and conservation of the Spirits and these are also moved for the communication of the vital heat to all the parts to bring into them the aliment whereby they are to be nourish'd and to transport the humours from one place to another as the Soul thinks it necessary as it happens in the Passions as also in Crises and upon other occasions That this may be the better comprehended it is requisite that we ascend to a higher disquisition of things and since there is so much spoken of the Spirits our next examination must be to find out what they are of what matter they are compos'd and how they are framed And indeed it may be affirm'd that neither Philosophy nor
the motion of the body and so all those things which are said to be attracted by these qualities are mov'd by another kind of motion then that of Attraction And indeed who can easily conceive that a simple quality should be able so of a sudden and so powerfully to offer violence to things solid and weighty What motion can have an incorporeal vertue to go and find out and bring away massy bodies How is it to be apprehended that contrary to all other qualities which advance forward this only should return back Would there not be a necessity that while it brings back the bodies which it draws after it it should quit the space where it found them which yet continues still full of the same quality True it is and must be acknowledg'd that the Loadstone hath a magnetick vertue which it diffuses out of it self But this vertue is not attractive it only causes in the iron a certain feeling of its presence and thereupon the iron makes towards it of it self as it is in like manner inclin'd towards the iron For if they be both set on the water so as that they may freely swim on it they will approach one another if they be of equal force and if the iron be the more weighty or that it be stopp'd the Loadstone only will move towards it So that it is clear they draw one another no otherwise then as it is said the Sun draws the vapours which by reason of their lightness ascend of themselves after they have felt the heat Art 12. That there is not any attractive vertue in Purgative Medicines NOr is it by Attraction that purgative Medicaments do operate For of these these are some which cause vomiting being apply'd to the soals of the feet and other inferiour parts then which there cannot be a more certain argument of their not attracting the humours since that instead of obliging them to come to themselves they cause them to make a contrary motion Besides the purgative vertue being a natural Faculty should attract the humours which are conformable and consonant to it self in what subject soever they are found whereas far from that it attracts them not at all in bodies which are weak or depriv'd of life And indeed those who have more exactly examin'd the manner how purgation is wrought have shewn that purgatives have no other vertue then that of dissolving and separating the humours as the Rennet does the parts of the Milk And that the separation being made Nature being incens'd thereat expels and drives them out So that the evacuation thereof is wrought not by Attraction but Impulsion Art 13. That Grief and Heat are not attractive THere are yet others who affirm that grief and heat are attractive but they are only the Spirits which Nature sends with the blood into the parts for their support and assistance And this is no true attraction no more then that which is made by a vacuum For a privation which in effect is nothing cannot have any vertue But in this case the bodies put themselves forward to prevent a disorder which Nature cannot bear withall There are not therefore any Attractive vertues and consequently we are not to look for any in Animals in order to the causing of any conveyance of the blood into the veins But there remains this yet to be urg'd to the particular in dispute that it is true the Blood is not attracted but that it moves of it self as does the iron which is sensible of the magnetick vertue of the Loadstone and that having in like manner a certain feeling of the sympathetical vertue inspir'd by the parts it is of it self inclin'd towards them It must be acknowledg'd this expedient would do pretty well if this sympathetical vertue could be well establish'd But how shall we imagine it can subsist in such different subjects as Plants and Animals are or members of a different constitution and temperament such as are those of sound and unsound or diseas'd parts Nay though it should be granted in them What allyance can there be imagin'd between that vertue and the blood which is often alter'd or corrupted between it and the mineral waters which are drunk in fine between it and the poisons which are dispers'd all over the body Nay when all is done neither this means nor any of the others that have been propos'd doth satisfie the regularity which Nature observes in the motions of the blood nor most of the agitations it suffers in the Passions of the Soul nor yet the transportation of the chylus and other humours which is wrought in the body So that there is a necessity of having recourse to the Spirits as the general cause of all these effects And certainly whereas the Blood moves not of it self and that whatsoever is mov'd by another must be either forc'd or attracted or inclin'd neither impulsion nor attraction having any place here it is accordingly necessary that some Body which hath the vertue of moving it self should combine with it and convey it whereever it goes Now since we know that the Spirits are the chief instrmments of the Soul sent by Nature to all the parts to dispose them to action mixt by her with the blood to render it fluid and which she insinuates even into the humours against Nature as well to concoct as force them away there is no question to be made of their being the transporters of the moisture which is in the Vessels since they are beforehand in them to keep them fluid and that there are not any other substances which may be mixt with them to convey them to the places whereto they ought to go And consequently that they are bodies most susceptible of motion which being animated or immediately mov'd by the Soul are the only instruments that can move the blood in all the differences of situation which we observe therein Art 14. That the Blood is convey'd to the parts only by the Spirits FRom what hath been deliver'd it is apparent that in the ordinary course of the Blood the Spirits are the only instruments which cause it to ascend without trouble descend without precipitation and direct and convey it into all the parts nay even to the depth of the Bones for their nourishment By the same Spirits it is diversly stirr'd in the Passions according to the different designs which the Soul proposes to her self they convey it to the wounded parts to relieve them and confine it to an exact observance of that rectitude and regularity which is remarkable in all its motions In a word Nature is the principle and source of all these operations and that Nature is no other then the Soul and her Faculties all which stand in need of Organs in order to their action and can have no other then the Spirits whereto all these effects may be referred They are therefore intermixt with the Blood and as the Air being stirr'd carries along with it the vapours that are got
word how she causes all the parts to move For it is hard enough to conceive how a thing which hath no body is able to move a Body and yet much more to imagine that what is it self immoveable as it may be thought the Soul is can cause the members of the Animal to move It is indeed easily seen that they move by the means of the Muscles and that the Muscles act by the contraction of the Fibres which enter into their composition But the question is how the Soul causes that contraction of the Fibres Let not any one think to urge here that the Appetite commands the motive vertue which is in the members and that the said vertue executes what commands it hath received from the other These are but words which instead of clearing up the thing render it more obscure and hard to be comprehended And he who shall narrowly consider the nature of that command and the manner how it may be made by the Appetite as also that whereby it ought to be receiv'd by the motive vertue will be no further instructed in what we enquite after then he was before and shall not find how the Fibres meet together and are contracted To express our selves therefore clearly and in few words in order to the clearing up of these difficulties we affirm that all the parts are mov'd in regard the Soul between whom and them there is a strict union moves her self and that she forces them to follow the same motion which she hath given herself So that the Fibres are contracted because the Soul by whom they are animated closes and reinforces her self first and afterwards causes them to contract The same thing is to be said of the Spirits for when they go from one place to another when they dilate or contract themselves in the Passions it is the Soul that gives them these motions consequently to her giving of them to her self This will not be hard to conceive it we reflect on what was said in the fourth Chapter of this work where we have shewn that the Soul was movable in all her substance and having a proper extension she had also some parts which she might move as she pleas'd For this presuppos'd it is certain that being united with the members it is impossible she should give her self any motion but she must also give the like to them But it may be said that if the case stands thus there is no necessity the Animal Spirits should flow into the Muscles to cause them to move in asmuch as the Soul being wholy in every part hath no need that those Spirits should convey into it that vertue which it is already possess'd of We have already touch'd at this difficulty which hath put all the Scholes into so much distraction For some would have the Animal Spirits carry the motive faculty along with them and others affirm that what they do so carry with them is only a certain quality which is not animal and serves only for a disposition to set the motive faculty residing in the parts upon action But the maintainers of both these opinions are no doubt mistaken though it were only in this that they suppose as they do the Spirits not to be animate the former in that they assign animal vertues to Bodies which they conceive have no life the latter in that they advance an imaginary quality whereof they make no explication and which leaves the thing as doubtful at is was before We must therefore affirm that the Animal Spirits do not convey the motive vertue to the parts but that the command of the Estimative faculty does it without which there can no motion be made That this may be the better understood we are to remember what hath been delivered in the precedent discourses to wit That the Appetite moves not but upon the command of the Estimative faculty which orders what things are to be done That the said command consists in the Image or Idaea which that faculty frames in it self And that after such an Image hath been therein produced it is multiplicable and diffusive as a light into all the parts of the Soul Now it is by the Spirits that this communication is wrought For as corporeal actions are done by means of the Organs that are proper thereto so knowledge ought to be made in the Brain in which are all the Organs necessary for that action And whereas the parts which ought to execute what the Estimative Faculty commands are remote from it there is a necessity the Soul should have certain ministers whose work it is to carry about the resolutions she hath taken in her Privy-councel without which as in a well-govern'd Commonwealth nothing either ought or can be done And this is the proper imployment of the Animal Spirits which communicate the orders and decrees of the Estimative Faculty to the parts which upon receipt thereof move as we said before CHAP V. Of the Vertues and Vices whereof the Art how to know men may judge SInce The Art how to knâ—w Men pretends to the discovery of Vertues and Vices how secret soever they may be it may be also expected from it that it would acquaint us what Vertues and Vices are thereby meant and withall whether it hath that prerogative as to all in general or only as to some of them In order to the prosecution of that design it ought to make an enumeration thereof that it nay afterwards give us a particular account of those which are within its jurisdiction and falls under its cognizance But before we come to that this is to be premis'd as of necessary knowledge that the Vertues and Vices are certain Habits fram'd in the Soul by several Moral actions which often reiterated leave in her an inclination and facility to do the like Art 1. What Moral actions are FOr the clearing up of this doctrine we are to observe that our Souls may do two kinds of actions whereof some are necessary the others free The former are called in the Scholes the Actions of Man and those which are free Humane Actions in regard they are proper to man as he is Rational he only of all Animals having liberty There are some who confound the latter with the Moral Actions which have a reference to good and evil manners which deserve praise or dispraise reward or punishment But if among the free actions there are such as may be called indifferent which are neither good nor bad as many Philosophers are of opinion it is necessary there should be some difference between Humane Actions and Moral Actions and that the former should be as it were the Genus of the latter so as that all Moral Actions may be Humane in regard they are free and that all Humane Actions may not be Moral in regard there be some which are neither good nor bad Art 2. What Right Reason is BUt howere the case stand as to the distinction of Actions it is to be noted
the Impious person As to Obedience it does not assign any markes of it since those of Docility may serve instead thereof Respect may also have a certain reference to Prudence or the other Species of Justice for he who does not pay the Respect he ows is either foolish or proud So that it places the Friend in the third Classis to whom it opposes the Flatterer and the Enemy Next follows the Grateful person who hath for his opposite onely the Ungrateful The Affable comes in the first rank who hath for opposites the Cajoler and the Rustick In the sixt comes the Tell-troth or Sincere person who hath for his opposite the Lyar. But in regard Lying may be referr'd to words actions a mans own affairs and anothers thence it comes that there are five kinds of Lyars the Vain person the Dissembler the Arrogant the Hypocrite and the Evil-speaker Then follows Fidelity whereto there cannot any excess be opposed but only the defect which is Perfidiousness In fine the last of all is the Liberal person who hath for opposites the Prodigal and the Covetous But in regard Compassion and Clemency come somewhat neer Liberality the former relieving those that are in want and the other remitting the punishment which was due our Art adds the Merciful and the Charitable to the former whereof there is but one opposite to wit the Unmerciful and of Clemency the excessive Vice is Indulgency or Fondness and the defective Cruelty Magnificence hath also some relation to Liberality for it seems to be a sumptuous and excelling Liberality and that hath for its opposites superfluous Expence and Misership These reduc'd into the order observ'd in the precedent Section will stand thus The Honest and Just person hath for Oppositor The Simple The Vnjust or mischievous person The Pious or devout The Superstitious The Impious The Friend The Flatterer The Enemy The Grateful person The Vngrateful The Affable The Cajoller The Rustick The Tell-troth The Lyar In Words The Vain person The Dissembler The Evil-speaker In Actions The Arrogant The Hypocrite The Faithful person The Perfidious The Liberal The Prodigal The Covetous The Magnificent The superfluously Expensive The Miser The Compassionate The Vnmerciful or Vncompassionate The Clement The Indulgent The Cruel SECT 3. Of TEMPERANCE THe perfection of every power consists in the force of its action so that the Passions how violent soever they may be are so many perfections respect being had to the Appetite whereby they are produc'd But in regard the Appetite was bestow'd on the Animal for its conservation and that in Man it ought to be subject to the superiour Faculties the actions of it should not be defective since perfection consists in the force of the action nor should they on the other side be excessive because they would destroy health and disturb the noblest actions of the Soul And therefore it is requisite they should be moderate that so they may be conformable to Reason for to be conformable to Reason amounts to no more then to be convenient for Man that is for his Nature Nay those very Passions which are excited in the Will ought to admit the same temperament or moderation for though they cannot alwaies cause an alteration in the Health yet may they find the Soul work about objects which ought not to move her or keep her too long engag'd about such as are not bad Thence it comes that over-earnestness of study is vicious in regard it employes the Spirit too much in Contemplation and diverts it from that Activity and those lawful cares of Life which justly pretend to a share in the actions of man Howere it be all the Passions are regulated by two Vertues those of the Concupiscible Appetite by Temperance and those of the Irascible by Fortitude As for Temperance there are but two kinds of Passions about which it is employ'd and which constitute the Species thereof to wit Pleasure and Desire For though Love be the first and most powerful of them all yet is it impossible to make any conceit or apprehension thereof otherwise then as it is inclin'd to some Good which is either present or absent If it be present it causes Pleasure if it be absent it frames Desire so that Love is as it were involv'd and confin'd within these two Passions and that Vertue whose business it is to moderate them does also at the same time regulate the Passion of Love Nay if things be narrowly examin'd we shall find that Pleasure comprehends the two others and that in effect Temperance hath no other design then to moderate the Pleasures derivable from the Goods of the Soul the Body â—ot External things But in regard that of these Goods there are some which are consider'd rather as Absent then Present and others on the contrary accordingly Desire is more manifest in some and Pleasure â—n others and therefore we have though to separate them For there are three things in generall wherein our Desire may be vicious to wit Knowledge Wealth and Honours and there are two others which contribute to immoderate Pleasures that is the Senses and Divertisements As to Knowledge there being some things evil and unprofitable which may be learnt and that too much or too little time may be spent about such as are good and profitable the Vertue which regulates our desires in the pursuit thereof may be called Study or a commendable Curiosity For Wealth if we regard the disposall which is to be made thereof to others the Vertue employ'd to that purpose is called Liberality and belongs to Justice But if it be desired for a mans private use the Vertue which moderates the cares which a man takes in the acquisition and use thereof is called Frugality The Desire of Honour is regulated by Humility Modesty and Magnanimity Humility keeps a man from falling too low in the pursuit thereof Magnanimity from attempting things too high And Modesty moderates the desires a man may have for meaner honours Pleasure does principally regard the Senses especially those of the Tasting and Touching in asmuch as the irregularity of those two is most prejudicial to Health and the Functions of the Understanding The Pleasure of Eating and Drinking is moderated by Sobriety and Chastity gives a check to the enjoyments of the flesh Now whereas there is a necessity of Divertisement for the relaxation of Mind and Body and for the recruiting of them with new forces and that some abuse may be made of the Pleasure found therein there is a particular Vertue design'd for the regulation of them to wit Eutrapelii whereof there are several Species according to the diversity of the objects wherein diversion may be found such as are Conversation Gaming Musick Hunting Walking and others whereto there have not yet any names been given unless it be to that which moderates the pleasure taken in Raillery THE ART HOW TO KNOW MEN is not as to this particular more exact then Moral Philosophy which hath not been
Fear c. As to the Actions of the Mind as they must be necessarily conformable to the strength or weakness of the Faculties whereby they are produc'd so is it certain that a man who shall have the organs subservient to those Faculties well or ill dispos'd shall have good or bad productions of the mind and that it may be assur'd that when he shall be oblig'd to the reception of some sentiment or to speak of some affair he will judge and speak of it according to the capacity which the world was persuaded he had as we have said elsewhere The Habit and Inclination do the like for if it be known a man is Just Magnificent Valiant c. it will be undoubtedly said that when any occasion shall present it self his sentiments will be consonant to the Vertue and Inclination he hath Art 4. How the Passions may be foreseen BUt as to the Passions there cannot so certain a judgment be made of them and it may only probably be said that a man will be transported with Anger and suffer himself to be carry'd away with vanity or some other Passion in regard that Reason and the Study of Philosophy may keep him in and correct the dispositions which he might have to those Passions Nay there is this further consideration to be made in reference to these motions that they are two-fold primary and secondary The primary or first motions hurry us away like torrents and as it is commonly said come not within the jurisdiction of reason The others are not so impetuous and admit of some time to consider them and therefore they may be the more easily check'd But they are withall more hardly discoverable in as much as they are more easily corrected whereas the judgment which may be made of the former is more certain it being very hard that the Habit should be so perfect as that it might divert Nature from those first assaults and break that strong connexion which is between the Inclination and the Action We are to make this further observation that of the Passions there are some may be called the Principal and Predominant others which are only the Companions Attendants of the former When a man is angry his Predominant Passion is Anger as being that which hath possess'd it self of all his Soul and whereto are referred all the other Passions which are framed afterwards as Arrogance Insolence Obstinacy c. In like manner Sadness or Grief is the predominant Passion in him who is afflicted but Fear Languor Sloath Superstition are its Attendant Passions In fine there is not any one of them which when it is fram'd in the Soul does not call some others to its assistance and relief so that the Predominant Passion once known there 's no doubt but the others are wayting on it But in regard the connexion there is between them may be stronger or weaker and that there are some whereof the consequence is as it were necessary and others wherein it is only contingent For Languor or Dejection of Spirit and Sloath are in a manner necessarily attendant on Sadness but Superstition does not alwaies follow it Whence it may be thence inferr'd that the knowledge had of the former is more certain and that of the contingent doubtful Let us therefore conclude that there are two waies principally whereby future Passions may be foreseen to wit the Inclination and the Connexion there is between the Passions Whereto may be added the Strength or Weakness of his Mind who is to resent it and the greatness of the Good or Evil which is to happen to him For if it be known that a man is to receive a great injury and that he be a person of a weak Spirit some will not stick to affirm that he will be overcome by the Passion of Anger Art 5. Whether contingent Actions may be foreseen IT will peradventure be objected against us that there is not any certain knowledge of things to come which are Contingent in regard they may equally either happen or not happen otherwise if a certain judgment could be made thereof they would not be Contingent The Answer to this Objection which is made against all the Sciences of Divination is this That there are two sorts of Contingents some which have a natural and regulated cause whereby according to the common order of things they ought to be produced Others have no regular cause but a fortuitous or free as those things that happen by hazzard or the election of the Will Those last are purely contingent and cannot be determinately known any way whatsoever But the former are not purely contingent and the knowledge had of them may be certain in the sequel of things as not differing from that of things necessary save only in this that their causes may be prevented from producing their effects The actions and passions of the Soul are of that kind in as much as there is a connexion between them and the Faculties the Inclinations and the Habits for they are effects which by ordinary consequence depend on those causes and though some of these effects be free yet are they not absolutely such when they proceed from the said causes and that these concurr with the freer cause such as is the Will CHAP. VII How the Habits may be known Art I. Of the discovery of the Moral Habits IN order to our satisfaction whether the Habits are discoverable or not we are to remember that there are two kinds of them the Intellectual and the Moral and that these latter are more easily known then the Intellectual For it is more easie to judge whether a man be Just or Temperate then whether he be a Physician or Mathematician The reason given of this difference is that the Intellectual Habits make not any impression on the body and consequently leave no sensible mark whereby they might be known But I do not conceive this reason solid enough in regard the Moral Habits do not also make any manifest impression on the body no more then the Intellectual It is therefore more to our purpose to affirm that the Moral habits are more certainly known because the Moral inclinations are determinated to certain Passions which often reiterated produce Habits And whereas there are few who resist their inclinations by reason of the difficulty and trouble it is to change them and that every one commonly does what is most easie and delightfull to him it thence proceeds that the knowledge had of the inclinations which is well grounded and certain enables us to make a more probable judgment of the habits whereby they are attended Art 2. How the Intellectual Habits may be known BUt the case is otherwise in the Intellectual Habits in regard the Understanding is not determinated to any one Art or Science rather than another And though that of these some have a greater conformity to the Imagination then they have to the Judgment or Memory yet the great number there
is requisite that in Man who is the Epitome and abbreviation of the World the parts should be ranked conformably to their dignity And that it may be affirmed not onlâ— that the most excellent are in the noblest situation but also that those which are in the noblest situation are therefore the most excellent For it follows thence that the Hands being plac'd in the upper part are more excellent then the Feet which are in the lower and the Hand which is on the right side is more excellent then that on the left But whereas the excellency of the parts is deduc'd from the advantages they bring to the Animal we are to examine in order to the prosecution of our design what use the Hands may serve for wherein they are more serviceable then the Feet and what advantage the Right hath over the Left Art 3. What advantages may be deduced from the Hands IN the first place it is certain that all Animals which consist of Blood and for that reason have the denomination of perfect creatures have been furnish'd with four organs to facilitate their motion from one place to another which organs are answerable to the four first differences of situation before-mentioned to wit Above Beneath Right and Left For there have not been any instruments which might be conceiv'd answerable to the two last to wit Before and Behind there being not any perfect Animal which naturally moves backward and the other organs being sufficient to carry on the motion which is made forwards as experience hath made apparent This truth is evident in all kinds of perfect creatures since that most of the terrestrial have four feet volatiles have two feet and two wings the Fishes have four finns and Serpents make four different folds or twinings And all these parts are so absolutely necessary in order to the progressive motion which is natural to them that if they wanted any one of them it could not be performed without some trouble For the Volatiles are not able to fly when their legs are broken nor can the Fish swim when they have lost any of their finns nor â—an the Serpents crawl it those parts of their bodies be cut off which make the last twinings of their motion From what hath been said it may be concluded that the Hands being of the same rank with instruments which are design'd for progressive motion do serve to promote that of Man and that if he were depriv'd thereof he would not perform that motion with so much ease For we find that a man cannot run without much trouble when his hands are bound as also that he shuts his fist when he goes to jump and in his ordinary gate the arm still falls back when the legg on the same side is put forward To this may be added that in infancy they do the office of feet that when one is fallen he cannot well get up without them and that if one be to climb up or come down some steepy places they are no less serviceable then the legs All which are evident signs that these parts contribute much to the progressive motion of Man But whereas Nature discovers a great frugality in all she does and makes all the advantages she can of them she does not content her self with this first imployment she hath impos'd upon the hands but she hath design'd them for so many other uses as it is impossible to give a particular account of them all So that thence came the necessity of making a comparison between them and the Understanding and affirming that as this latter is the form of forms as having them all in its power in like manner the Hand is the Instrument of Instruments as comprehending alone the vertue of all the rest For it is by the Hands that a Man receives and retains those things which are necessary and delightful to him By them it is That he defends himself and overcomes those things that are hurtful and prejudicial to him In a word they are the principal Agents in the compassing of all Arts and the general Utensils employ'd by the Mind to bring to light the noblest and most advantageous â—nventions And no doubt Man derives so great an advantage from them over all other Animals that if it cannot be affirm'd as it was by that antient Philosopher That he is wise because he hath Hands this at least may be inferr'd that he seems Wise because he hath Hands This premis'd it is not to be admir'd the Hands should be disposed into the upper part of Man as the more honourable place and that Nature should design their situation as neer as she could to the Seat of Reason and the Senses between them and which there is so great a correspondence and connexion Art 4. That the Right Hand is more noble than the Left BUt though Nature hath plac'd the Hands in the same rank as to situation yet are they not equal in point of esteem with her in as much as she treats the RIGHT hard as the elder and the first in dignity For if those things which are most active are consequently most excellent and most considerable it follows that the Right Hand being stronger and more nimble then the Lest should also be more excellent then it Now that it hath more strength and agility is the consequence of its having more heat which is the source of those qualities And its having more heat is again the consequence not only of its being sited on the same side as the right ventricle of the Heart where the bloud is more hot and suming not onely of its being neer the Liver which is the spring of bloud not onely because the Veins of all the parts on the right side are larger as Hippocrates affirms but also by reason of its being plac'd on the Right side where motion hath its first beginning For as the Spirits are the principal organs of all the actions of the body and are by Nature most abundantly sent to those places where they ought to be strongest and have most employment so is it not to be doubted since it is requisite Motion should begin on the Right side and that all the preparations necessary thereto and the principal effort it requires should be made in that part but that a greater quantity of Spirits make their recourse thither chafe and fortifie it by the heat they carry along with them and by the secret influences of the vital principles which they communicate thereto Thence it comes that even those parts which do not contribute any thing to Motion and are on that side have a resentment of that force and vigour which was design'd for that sole action onely For the right Eye is stronger and surer then the left and the certitude of the sight which is made by both together absolutely depends on the former All the organs subservient to generation which are on that side are apt to frame Males and those which are on the left
and the affectation of novelty have since brought into vogue Art 18. Whence proceeds the regularity which Nature observes in her evacuations ANd certainly if a recourse be not had to this direction of the Spirits it would be impossible to give an account of the regularity which Nature observes in her motions when they are absolutely at her disposal and which Medicine imitates in the evacuations prescrib'd by it For when in inflammations of the Liver the right Ear becomes red when ulcers rise in the right Hand and right Foot when blood issues out at the nostrill of the same side or when there happen imposthumes and swellings in the right Ear And on the contrary when all the same accidents are observable on the left side in inflammations of the Spleen When I say Medicine prescribes Phlebotomy on the same side that the disease is and teaches us withall that all the evacuations made on the opposite side are dangerous in case they are made of themselves or naturally or to no purpose if done by Art What other reason can be assign'd for this regularity at least such as may be satisfactory to the mind then that alledged by us For what is said of the streight Fibres which enter into the composition of the vessels whereby some are of opinion that the humours are attracted is to give it no worse tearm impertinent since they are incapable of making any such attraction as we have shewn elsewhere since they are found equally on all sides of the vessel and consequently cannot determine or direct the motion of the humours to one rather then another since there are not alwayes Fibres to promote that regularity in as much as from the Spleen to the left Nostril there cannot be any at all the veins of the Nose proceeding from the hollow Vein between which and the Spleen there is no connexion And in fine since the humours which are without the vessels nay the very vapours and the most simple qualities are communicated from one part to another after the same manner so as that the Fibres act not at all upon those occurrences they in case there were any not contributing any thing to the transportation of the vapours and qualities Moreover if any shall affirm that this may be done by those secret conduits that are in some parts of the flesh and ascend from the lower parts to the upper yet so as that those which are of one side have no communication with those of the other we answer that it is a pure imagination without any likelihood of truth in as much as most commonly these evacuations are wrought by the veins and that it is requisite the humours which flow through those secret conduit-pipes should enter into the veins where it must be asserted there are not any passages nay further that there should be some conduits cross the body since the humours sometimes pass from the Right side to the Left sometimes from Before to Behind and most commonly from the Centre to the Circumference But all consider'd reflecting on either of these opinions we cannot find why there should be so much danger when the regularity is not observ'd in the evacuations of the humours But it being supposed that the said evacuations are wrought by the direction of the Spirits it is easily concluded to be necessary that Nature must needs be extremely oppress'd when she follows not the order which had been prescrib'd her and when she gets out of her ordinary road to shun the enemy that presses upon her For it is to be attributed to this very reason that the motions she makes in sharp Fevers upon even days are always dangerous in as much as it is an argument of the violence she suffers and the disorder into which the violence of the Disease forces her when it makes her forget the odd days on which she ought to engage against the choler which is the cause of those Diseases But however the case stands we may confidently affirm that the regularity we speak of without all doubt proceeds from the Spirits which conduct the humours all over one half of the body and dispose them not at all into the other unless there be some great obstruction For Nature hath so great a tenderness for the conservation of things living and animate that she hath in a manner divided them all into two parts out of this design that if it happened one suffered any alteration the other might secure it self from it and so in it self preserve the nature of the whole Now this division is real and manifest in some subjects as in the seeds and kernels of some Plants all which consist of two portions which may be separated one from the other as also in all those members of the Animal that are double In others it is obscure and not observable in an actual separation of the parts but onely in those operations which shew that they have each of them their distinct jurisdiction and different concernments such as is that whereof we speak which distinguishes the whole body into two halfs whereof one is on the right the other on the left Of the same kind is also that which may be observed in the members that are single as the Brain Tongue Nose c. where we many times see one half which is assaulted by some Disease the other free from it though there be not any separation between them If then it be true that Nature to preserve one half of the body charges the other with all the disorder that happens thereto and permits not the humours wherewith it is troubled to exceed her limits and by that means to fasten on the other it is not to be doubted but that the Spirits which are her first and principal organs do serve her in that enterprize and that the transportation of the humours from one place to another is their charge but onely so farr as she hath given them order to do And if to compass this transportation there be any necessity of making use of the Veins that are on the oâ—her sâ—de yet does not that make them forget Nature's dâ—sâ—gn and the commands they had received from her and so they onely pass along if I may so express it the borders of their neighbours to get to the place whereto they are directed Thus for example when to disburthen the Spleen of the humours whereby it is incommodated there happens a bleeding of the Nose by the left Nostril it is absolutely necessary that they should go out of the Spleen-veins into the Hollow-vein which is on the right side But the Spirits can conduct them in such manner as at last to make them return all along the same line and within that half of the body wherein the Spleen is But this is to enter too farr into the secrets of Medicine it shall therefore suffice at the present to affirm that the communication there is between the Veins according to the distribution made thereof
by Hippocrates proceeds from the Spirits which convey the humors from one to another consonantly to the relation and correspondence which there is between the parts or according to the regularity they observe among themselves Art 19. That the Starrs or Planets have a certain predominancy over the several parts of the Hand TO return to the Sympathy there is between the interiour members and the several parts of the Hand I am of opinion that the reasons alledg'd by us for the maintaining thereof if they do not absolutely convince the most obstinate will at least leave in their mind some doubt of the truth thereof And I make no question but that Chiromancy ought to be satisfy'd therewith since that having been hitherto unknown to it they make good the chiefest of its foundations as also that it will be easie for the said Science to establish thereupon the maximes of Astrologie which ought to furnish it with most of its rules and secure its preatest promises For if it be once granted that the interiour parts are govern'd by the Planets and that they receive from those Celestial Bodies some particular influence as Astrologie teaches it must of necessity follow that the vertue which is deriv'd from those parts to the Hand should be accompanied by that which the Planets communicate to them And that for example if the Heart communicates its influence to some finger the Planet under whose government the Heart is should also derive his to the same place it being not probable that the influence of the Planet should make a halt at the Heart while this last communicates to the Hand that which is proper and natural to it in as much as the truth of the Celestial influences being granted it must be affirm'd that those two vertues are combin'd into one which is the onely essential disposition and the specifick property of each part Now it is a conclusion of Astrologie confirm'd by its principles and observations That the Liver is govern'd by Jupiter the Spleen by Saturn the Heart by the Sun and so of the rest whereof the consequence is that the fore-finger should be accordingly govern'd by Jupiter the middle-finger by Saturn the Ring-finger by the Sun c. in regard there is a correspondence and sympathy between those principal parts and the said fingers and that the former communicates to the latter the vertue they have in themselves All which consider'd we are not any longer to think it much that Chiromancy hath chang'd the order of the Planets in the Hand nor yet ask why it should place Jupiter on the fore-finger and the Sun on the Ring-finger rather then on any other part in as much as the nature of the Heart and Liver and the sympathy there is between them and those fingers hath assign'd it those places to be as it were particular houses which the said Planets have in the Hand as they have in the Heavens such as are peculiar to them These things thus laid down the whole difficulty is reduced to this point viz to know whether those Starrs do really govern the principal parts of the body and communicate unto them some secret vertue which might be cause of the good or bad disposition they have But for any man to think to drive on this Question as farr as it might go and to examine al the consequences and circumstances thereof with the severity which Philosophy requires in these matters besides that it would bring into doubt those truths which Astrologie places in the rank of things already judg'd and such as its most irreconcileable enemies are for the most part forc'd to acknowledge it would require a Discourse which should exceed the limits of our design nay indeed contradict the method wherewith all Sciences would be treated For this admits not that all those things which occurr therein should be brought into dispute it particularly declares against the censuring of those principles upon which they are establish'd and would have all those which are deduced from the conclusions of the superiour Sciences how doubtfull soever they may be to be receiv'd with the same priviledge as the maximes and common notions of the Mathematicks may challenge It is therefore sufficient for Chiromancy that Natural Philosophy maintains its first foundations and so whatsoever it afterwards receives from Astrologie ought to be allow'd or at least the disquisition thereof left in suspence till the ground of Astrologie it self shall have been examined Art 20. That the Planets have a predominancy over the interiour parts TO remove therefore in some measure the distrust which some may have that the Conclusions which Chiromancy derives from Astrologie for principles are wholly imaginary and contrary to truth we are now to make it appear by some observations not admittable into dispute That some parts of the body are under the particular direction and government of certain Planets Nor will this be any hard matter to do as to some of them And though we should reject the experiences which Astrologie might furnish us with upon this occasion and that upon such a rejection we should not have others convincing enough to make an absolute proof of this truth yet would the former lay down a great presumption for the ascertainment of the rest and leave a very wel-grounded conjecture for us to imagine that every member is governed by one of those Starrs and that the Principle which Astrologie had made thereof in order to the furtherance of Chiromancy is not ill establish'd Art 21. That the Moon hath such a predominancy over the Brain LEt us then begin with the Brain and affirm that it is a thing out of all controversie that the Moon hath a secret superintendency over that part and that it is more apparently sensible of its power then any of the other parts For it swells and abates it increases and diminishes proportionably to the increase or decrease of that Planet Thence it comes that the Science of Medicine upon a certain knowledge of these changes takes a care that when Trepanning is prescrib'd it should be perform'd with the greater precaution in the full of the Moon in regard the Physicians know that then the Brain is also in its full and that causing the Membranes which encompass it to come neerer the bone it exposes them to the danger of being the more easily touched by the instrument But there cannot be a greater demonstration of the connexion and sympathy which there is between the Moon and the Brain then that the Diseases of that part have their intensions and remissions according to the course of that Planet For of these â—ndispositions there are some do so regularly follow her motions that they may be the Ephemerides or Prognostications thereof Nay though she be under the Horizon and that the person subject to those indispositions endeavour by all ways imaginable to secure themselves against her influences yet does not all this hinder but that the breaking out of a fluxion
to fear So that upon such occasions weakness of mind is the cause of those emotions as on the other side soundness of judgment smother them The Sixth Whereas it is possible that vicious Inclinations may be reform'd by study and bad education may alter corrupt the good it concerns the Artist to add as much as may be the Moral marks to the Natural and endeavour to discover by the Words and Actions of the person whose humour he would be acquainted with whether he follows his Inclinations or hath reform'd them Art 4. Of the Moderation of Spirit indispensibly requisite in the Study of this Art NOw whereas all these Rules and all these Observations are very hard to be reduc'd to practice it must be laid down as a thing certain that it is very easie to make many temerarious judgments thereby and to abuse this art if great care be not taken Therefore among all the Qualities requisite in the person who is desirous to study it I wish him particularly Moderation of Spirit that he may not be partial or praecipitate in his judgments and above all things not to make any to the disadvantage of others but in the secret closet of his own Heart so as that neither his Tongue nor their Ears may be witnesses thereof Otherwise Religion and Prudence would not permit the exercise of this noble Science and in stead of being necessary and serviceable to Society it would become its greatest Enemy FINIS THE TABLE THE FIRST BOOK CHAP. I. AN Idaea of the natural Perfection of Man page 1 ART 1. That only man hath the sense of Touching in perfection 3 2. All in man should be in a mediocrity 4 3. That all the Faculties ought to be in a mean 6 4. That all natural Inclinations are defects 7 5. That every Species hath its proper Temperament 9 6. Why Sexes were bestowed on Animals and why the male is hot and dry and the female cold and moist 10 7. Wherein the Beauty of Sexes consists That there are two sorts of natural effects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12 8. That there are some Faculties and Inclinations which it is Natures design to bestow on the Sexes others not 13 9. That there are some parts fram'd by nature out of design others not 15 SECT 2. Wherein the perfection of the Male consists p. 16 ART 1. Of the Inclinations proper to Man ib. 2. That the Temperament of Man is hot and dry in the first degree 18 3. A model of Man's figure 19 4. Of the figure of Man's parts 21 5. The Reasons of the figure of Man's parts 22 6. That the figure of the parts denotes the inclinations 23 SECT 3. Shewing wherein consists the natural perfection of the Woman 24 ART 1. The Reasons of these Inclinations 26 2. That the Inclinations of the Woman are not defects 28 3. That the Inclinations of Man are defects in the Woman 30 4. Wherein the Beauty of the Woman consists 31 5. The causes assign'd of this figuration of parts in the Woman 33 6. That all these parts denote the Inclinations which are proper to the Woman 34 7. Wherein perfect Beauty consists 36 CHAP. II. Of the Inclinations SECT 1. Of the Nature of Inclination p. 40 Art 1. The Object of the Inclination 41 2. The distinction of the Inclinations 42 3. The Seat of the Inclinations 43 4. How Inclination is to be defin'd 44 5. Whence proceeds the Disposition wherein the Inclination consists 45 6. How the motions of the Appetite are wrought 47 7. Of the Judgments of the said Faculties 48 8. That the Images which are in the memory the causes of Inclination 50 9. That the disposition facility of the Appetites motion proceeds from the same Images 52 SECT 2. What are the Causes of the Inclinations 54 Art 1. The several distinctions of the said causes ibid. 2. That the Instinct is one of the causes of the Inclinations 55 3. That the Temperament is one of the causes of the Inclinations 56 4. That the Conformation of the parts is a cause of the Inclination 58 5. How Figure acts 60 6. How Inclinations are produc'd by the remote Causes 63 7. Of the nature of Aversion 65 CHAP. III. Of the Motions of the Soul 67 SECT 1. That the Soul moves ibid. Art 1. What part of the Soul moves 68 2. That the motions of the Soul are not metaphorical ibid. 3. That the rational Soul hath a real motion as the Angels have 69 4. That the motions of the Will are real motions 70 5. That Objections made against the motions of the Soul considered 73 6. The Motions of the Appetites 75 SECT 2. How Good and Evil move the Appetite 77 Art 1. How Knowledge is wrought 79 2. That the Images are multiply'd 81 SECT 3. What are Motions of the Soul 84 SECT 4. Of the Number of the Passions 87 Art 1. What the Simple Passions and how many there are 88 2. That there are but eight Simple Passions 89 3. Why there are but eight simple Passions ibid. 4. The Definitions of the simple Passions 91 5. The Definitions of the mixt Passions 92 6. The Natural order of the Passions 94 7. That there are three Orders of the Passions 95 SECT 5. How the Passions of one Appetite are communicated to the another 98 SECT 6. What is the Seat and first Subject of the Appetite 106 Art 1. What is the Seat of the Sensitive Appetite 107 2. The Seat of the natural Appetite 111 3. How the Passions are compleated 113 CHAP. IV. Of the Motion of the Heart and Spirits in the Passions 114 Art 1. Of the Nature of the Spirits 115 2. Of the matter of the Spirits 116 3. How the Spirits are framed ibid. 4. An Objection against the precedent Doctrine answered 118 5. Why the heart moves 120 6. That the Spirits are moved for three ends 122 7. That the Spirits convey the blood into the parts 123 8. The beating of the Heart forces not the Blood into all the Parts 124 9. That the blood is not attracted by the Fibres 128 10. That the blood is not atttracted by any Magnetick vertue 130 11. That there are not any Attractive vertues 131 12. That there is not any attractive vertue in Purgative Medicines 133 13. That Grief and Heat are not attractive 134 14. That the blood is convey'd to the parts only by the Spirits 136 SECT 1. Of the animation of the Spirits 137 Art 1. Objections answered 142 2. The union between the Spirits and the Parts 143 3. How the foresaid union is consistent with the intermixture of the Spirits with the blood and humours 144 SECT 2. Why the Heart and Spirits move in the Passions 146 SECT 3. What Faculty it is that moves the Spirits 149 Art 1. Of what kind the motion of the Heart and Spirits is in the other Passions 152 SECT 4. How the Soul causes the Body to move 154 CHAP. V. Of the Vertues and Vices whereof the
Art how to know men may judge 157 Art 1. What Moral actions are 158 2. What Right Reason is 159 3. Why the Vertues are in the mean 160 4. Of the Seat of Moral Habits 162 5. That there are four powers which may be regulated by Right Reason 166 SECT 1. Of PRVDENCE 167 SECT 2. Of JVSTICE 171 SECT 3. Of TEMPERANCE 175 SECT 4. Of FORTITVDE 180 THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. Of the Means whereby Men may be known 183 Art 1. What Causes they are which serve for Signs 185 2. What the Effects are which serve for Signs 186 CHAP. II. Of the Strength and Weakness of Signs 187 Art 1. What Judgment is made of the Causes ibid. 2. Of the next Causes 188 3. Of the Remote Causes 189 4. What Judgment that is which is made by the Effects 190 CHAP. III. Of the Natural Signs 191 Art 1. Of the Difference of Signs 194 2. Of the Means assign'd by Aristotle to discover the efficacy of Signs 195 3. That the Passions are most apparent in the Head 196 4. That the Inclinations are most apparent in the Head 199 5. That the Inclinations are discoverable by the Arms and Leggs 201 6. From what places the Signs are taken 203 CHAP. IV. Of the Rules which Physiognomy hath fram'd upon the natural Signs in order to the discovery of the Inclinations 205 Art 1. Of the Progress of Physiognomy 206 2. That the Syllogistical Rule was added by Aristotle 207 3. The defects of the first Rule of Physiognomy ibid. 4. The defectiveness of the second Rule 208 5. How Aristotle makes use of the second Rule 209 6. What the Syllogistical Rule is 211 CHAP. V. After what manner THE ART HOW TO KNOW MEN makes use of the Rules of Physiognomy 212 Art 1. How the said Art makes use of the first Rule of that Science 212 2. How it makes use of the second Rule 214 3. How the said Art makes use of the third Rule 215 4. How the said Art makes use of the fourth Rule 216 5. Why The Art how to know Men treats of the Temperaments 217 6. That there are other Rules besides those of Physiognomy whereby the Inclinations may be discover'd 218 CHAP. VI. How the Actions and Motions of the Soul are known 220 Art 1. That there are two kinds of Actions 221 2. Of Dissimulation 222 3. How Actions may be foreseen 223 4. How the Passions may be foreseen 224 5. Whether contingent Actions may be foreseen 226 CHAP. VII How the Habits may be known 227 Art 1. Of the discovery of the Moral Habits ib. 2. How the Intellectual Habits may be known 228 CHAP. VIII Of Astrological Signs 230 The first Letter to Monsieur B.D.M. upon the Principles of CHIROMANCY 232 Art 1. That of Situations some are more noble then others 243 2. That the nobler Situations are design'd for the more excellent parts and that the excellency of the Parts is deduc'd from the advantage they bring along with them 247 3. What advantages may be deduced from the Hands 248 4. That the Right Hand is more noble than the Left 250 5. That Motion begins on the Right side 252 6. That the Hands have the greatest portion of natural heat 253 7. That there is a greater communication between the Hands and the nobler parts 255 8. That some secret Vertues are convey'd from the nobler parts into the Hands 256 9. That Nature does not confound the Vertues 257 10. That the Vertues of the nobler parts are not receiv'd into the same places of the Hand 259 11. That there is a Sympathy between the Liver and the Fore-finger 260 12. That there is a Sympathy between the Heart and the Ring finger 261 13. That there is a like Sympathy between the Spleen and the Middle-finger 264 14. That there is a Sympathy between all the interiour parts and the other parts of the Hand 267 15. That the Face is the Epitome of all the exteriour parts 268 16. That there is a mutual Sympathy between all the parts 269 17. That the distribution of the Veins made by Hippocrates for the discovery of the said Sympathy was not understood either by Aristotle or Galen 270 18. Whence proceeds the regularity which Nature observes in her evacuations 274 19. That the Stars or Planets have a certain predominancy over the several parts of the Hand 278 20. That the Planets have a predominancy over the interiour parts 281 21. That the Moon hath such a predominancy over the Brain 282 22. That the Sun hath the like predominancy over the Heart 284 23. That the other Planets have the Government of the other interiour parts 287 24. That the Principles establish'd regulate many doubtful things in Chiromancy 289 The Second Letter to Monsieur B.D.M. upon the Principles of METOPOSCOPY 292 Art 1. That Metoposcopy hath the same Principles with Chiromancy 294 2. What parts of the Face are govern'd by the Planets 296 3. That not only the Forehead but also the other parts of the Face are to be considered in Metoposcopy 300 4. That the Sun and Moon have the government of the Eyes 301 5. That Venus hath the government of the Nose 304 6. That there is a correspondence between all the marks of the Face and others in other parts of the Body 305 7. Whence the Lines of the Forehead proceed 307 8. What particular Planet hath the government of the Forehead 311 9. That Jupiter hath the government of the Cheeks 314 10. That Mercury hath the like government over the Ears 315 11. That Mars hath the government of the Lips ibid. CHAP. IX What Judgment is to be made of Chiromancy Metoposcopy 317 SECT 1. Of the several parts which compleat THE ART HOW TO KNOW MEN 322 CHAP. X. What qualities are requisite in that person who would apply himself to THE ART HOW TO KNOW MEN 324 1. Of the Genius requisite or in order to the exercise of this Art 326 2. Of the natural Qualities which are requisite for the exercise of this Art 327 3. Of the Method necessary in order to the Exercise of this Art 328 4. Of the Moderation of Spirit indispensibly requisite in the Study of this Art 330 FINIS