befal both them and their Children 'T is certain he did this by the Spirit of God but if Holy Writ and our Faith had not assured us of it how should the Natural Philosophers know that this was the Work of God and that of the She Lunatic's telling those that came to see her their Virtues and Vices was a Work of the Devil since that in part it resembled Jacob's They conceive the Nature of the Rational Soul to be far different from that of the Devil and that its Powers the Understanding Imagination and Memory are of another kind much different In which they are mistaken for let the Rational Soul animate a well-organiz'd Body such as Adam's was it shall know no less than the most clear-sighted Devil and when it is separated from the Body it has as subtle Faculties as he Say now that the Devils discover what is to come by conjecturing and reasoning from certain Signs the Rational Soul can do as much when deliver'd from the Body or when it has that difference of Temperament which gives Man the Knowledge of Futurities so that it is as difficult to the Understanding to conceive how the Devil can know such elevated and hidden things of which the Knowledge is attributed to the Rational Soul It cannot enter into their thoughts that there can be Signs in Natural things whereby to foretel what is to come And I my self hold that there are some Indications subservient to us in the knowledge of the Past of the Present and that help us to conjecture at the Future nay and to guess at certain Secrets of Heaven For the things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made He that shall have the requisite Faculty to attain it may attain it and the other shall be such a one as Homer speaks of The Ignorant understand the Past but not the Future but the Prudent and Discreet is the Ape of God imitating him in many things and though he cannot do it to so great a Perfection yet nevertheless he can counterfeit it in some measure CHAP. VIII From these three Qualities alone Heat Moisture and Driness proceed all the differences of Wit observ'd among Men. AS long as the Rational Soul is in the Body it is impossible it should perform different and contrary Actions if to each it have its proper and peculiar Instruments This is clearly seen in the Animal Faculty which exercises divers Actions in the exterior Senses each having its particular and proper Organ the Sight has it after one manner the Hearing after another the Taste the Smell and the Touch after another and if this were not so there would be but one sort of Actions all would consist either in the Sight or in the Hearing or in the Taste or in the Smell or in the Touch because the Organ determines the Power to one Action only and not to more From what passes plainly through the exterior Senses we may collect what is acted in the Interior We Understand we Imagine and Remember by the same Animal Virtue But if it be true that each Action requires its particular Instrument there must necessarily be one Organ in the Brain to Understand another to Imagin and a third to Remember for if the whole Brain were Organized after one and the same Manner all would be either Memory or Understanding or Imagination But when we see such different Actions of necessity there must also be divers Instruments And yet if one should Dissect a Head to Anatomize the Brain all would seem composed after the same manner of the like substance without difference of Parts or diversity of Kinds I say that it seems so because as Galen has observ'd Nature has placed abundance of things in Man's Body that are compound which the Senses nevertheless judge to be simple because of the Subtilty of the Mixture Which may also happen in the Brain of a Man though to sight it seems no such thing Besides this there are four small Ventricles in the Cavity of the Brain of which Galen taught the use to him that would learn it of him But for my part I hold that the fourth Ventricle which is behind the Head has no other Function than to digest and refine the Vital Spirits and turn them into Animal Spirits enabling them to give Sense and Motion to all the Parts of the Body because we cannot find in Humane Bodies two such contrary Operations that interfere with each other so much as Reasoning and the Digestive Faculty The reason is that Speculation requires the Repose Serenity and Clearness of the Animal Spirits whereas the Digestion is made with noise and ferment and from that Operation arises many Vapours which infest and darken the Animal Spirits in such manner as the Rational Soul cannot well distinguish the Figures of things Nor was Nature so Inconsiderate to join in one place two Actions that are performed with so great a Repugnance and Contrariety Be it how it will Plato mightily commends the Providence and Care of him who made us for having separated the Liver at so great a distance from the Brain lest by the noise made by the Boiling and Concoction of the Food and by the Obscurity and Clouds cast on the Animal Spirits by the Vapours the Rational Soul should be discomposed in Reasoning However if Plato had not remark'd this from Philosophy we see it every hour by Experience notwithstanding the Liver and the Stomach are so very distant from the Brain yet none can set to Study immediately upon Eating or some time after What seems most true in this matter is that the Office of the fourth Ventricle is to digest and alter the Vital and resolve them into Animal Spirits for the end we have spoke of And for this Reason Nature has also separated the three other and has logded it like a little Brain by it self apart as is to be observed lest by its Operation the Speculation of the other should be disturbed For as to the three little Cells before it is not to be doubted but Nature has made them to Reason and Discourse it clearly appears in deep Studies and Musing which never fails to make that part of the Head ake which corresponds to these three Cavities The strength of this Argument appears if we consider that even the other Powers being Fatigued in performing their Office ever cause some Pain to those Organs with which they are Exercised As after gazing too long a time the Eyes water and after Walking too much the Soles of the Feet will ake Now the difficulty is to know in which of these Cells dwells the Understanding in which the Memory and in which the Imagination because they are so close and near Neighbours that one cannot well distinguish or know it by the Experience we even now spoke of nor by any other Token Moreover if we consider that the Understanding can do nothing
by our Lord because they affected the uppermost Seats at Table and the Chief Places in the Synagogues The principal Reason whereon they rely who bestow Degrees after this manner is that when Scholars are sensible that each of them shall be Rewarded according to the Trial they shall give of themselves they will scarce spare time from their Study to Sleep or Eat Which would cease were there no Recompence for him that takes Pains or Chastisement for him that mis-spends his time in Laziness and Loytering But this is a slender reason and a Colour for it presupposes a very great Falshood which is that Science is attained by poring much on Books by being taught by the best Masters and never missing a Lesson But they observe not that if the Scholar has not Wit and a Genius requisite to the Science he applies to it is in vain he beats his Brains Day and Night amongst his Books And the mistake is such that if these two differences of Wit so opposite to each other are in Competition one man because he is very quick without Study or seeing a Book gains Learning in a moment and the other being dull and heavy labours all his Life long without attaining the least Knowledge And the Judges as Men proceed to give the first place to him whom Nature has qualified and who took no pains and the lowest degree to him that was Born without Wit and who studied hard As if one had become Learned by turning over Books and the other continued Ignorant thro' his own Carelesness And it fares as if a Prize were propos'd to two Runners of whom one had sound and nimble Heels and the other limped with one Leg. If the Universities admitted to the Study of the Sciences none but such as have proper Genius's for them and if all the Students were equal it would be very well done to Establish Rewards and Punishments for in this case there would be no doubt at all but he who was most Learned had taken most Pains and he that was least had complied with his Ease To the second Doubt we answer that as the Eyes stand in need of clearness to see Figures and Colours even so the Imagination has need of Light in the Brain to see the Ideas in the Memory It is a Light which neither the Sun nor Tapers give but only the Vital Spirits breed in the Heart and disperse throughout the Body Besides this you must know that Fear contracts the Spirits about the Heart and so leaves the Brain dark and all the other Parts of the Body chill'd And therefore Aristotle asks Why those that are afraid Stammer in their Speech and Tremble with their Hands and Lips To which he Answers that in Fear the Natural Heat flies to the Heart leaving all other Parts of the Body chill'd But we have already prov'd that Cold according to Galen's Opinion benums all the Faculties and Powers of the Soul and hinders them from the free Exercise of their Functions This being so it is easie to answer the second Doubt and it is that those who play at Chess are in fear of losing because it is a Game in which there is a Point of Honour and in which as we have said Fortune has no Part. The Vital Spirits then flying to the Heart the Imagination is nummed with the Cold and the Images are obscured and for these two Reasons the Gamester plays but very Awkwardly But the Lookers-on as they run no Risque are in no fear of losing thro' want of Skill and therefore see many Draughts that escape the Gamesters because their Imagination retains its Heat and the Figures illuminated by the Light of the Vital Spirits True it is that too much Light blinds the Imagination which happens when he that Plays is ashamed and out of Countenance to see his Adversary beat him Then through very Indignation Natural Heat increases and illuminates more than it should of which the Standers-by are free as being unconcerned From this springs an Effect very common in the World which is that when a Man would muster up all his Forces and make his Knowledge and Ability more Conspicuous then it is that he quits himself worst of all There are others on the contrary who being put to it make a great show and with this great Flourish know Nothing Of all which the Reason is very plain for he that has abundance of Natural Heat in his Head if he be set for a Task an Exercise for instance the Disputation he is to get in twenty four hours time as is done in Spain to all those who Dispute for a Vacant Place a part of the Excess of Natural Heat retires to his Heart so that the Brain remains Temperate In this Disposition as we shall prove in the following Chapter many things offer themselves to a Man to say But he that is very knowing and of a good Understanding when he is hard put to it through Fear retains not the Natural Heat in his Head so that for want of Light he has nothing in his Memory left to say If this were duly considered by them that Censure the Actions of Generals of Armies blaming their Steps and the Orders they give in their Camp they would see what difference there is between looking on a Fight out of a Window and breaking a Launce before it and the Apprehension of the Loss of an Army upon the Spot No less inconvenience Fear in the Physitians produces in Curing for his Practice as we have proved elsewhere belongs to the Imagination which is prejudiced by Cold more than any other Power in as much as it's Operation consists altogether in Heat And so we see by experience that the Physitians Cure the Common People better than Princes and great Lords A Lawyer ask't me one day knowing well that I treated of Invention why in the Cause he was well feed Law Cases and Points of Law come readily into his Thoughts but where the Cause was starved it seemed that all his Law was lost To which I Answered that matters of Interest belonged to the irascible Faculty which resides in the Heart and which if it be not satisfied does not so chearfully furnish Vital Spirits by whose Light the Figures that are in the Memory may appear but when the same is contented it liberally affords that Natural Heat by which the Rational Soul has sufficient clearness to read all that is Written in the Head This defect attends Men of great Understanding who are interessed and selfish and in such may be discerned that Property of the Lawyer But when all is well-weighed it seems no less than an Act of Justice that he be well Rewarded who labours in another Man's Vineyard The same reason holds for Physitians who being well gratified want no Store of Medicines otherwise their Art is starved as well as that of the Lawyer But here a matter of great Importance is to be noted namely that the good
as being not of this Rank that has its proper Temperament of Body either to facilitate or retard him in his Actions this Temperament then the Moralists improperly call Virtue or Vice considering that Men ordinarily speaking betray no other Inclinations than those mark'd out by this Temperament I say ordinarily speaking because in effect many Mens Souls are fill'd with perfect Virtue although the Organs of their Body afford them no Temperament subservient to accomplish the Desires of the Soul and yet nevertheless for all that by virtue of their Free Will they fail not to act like good Men though not without some Struggle and Reluctance According to which St. Paul has said I delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man but I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the Mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin In which Words St. Paul gives us to understand that he felt within himself two Laws wholly opposite one in his Soul which made him to love God's Law the other in his Members that led him to Sin Whence we may gather that the Virtues St. Paul had in his Soul did not correspond with the Constitution of his Body it being necessary for them to act with a sweet Consent and without the Resistance of the Flesh his Soul aspir'd to Pray and Meditate but when in order to this the motion presented to his Brain it was found indisposed because of his great Coldness and Moisture which are stupifying Qualities and proper to move to Sleep Of the same Temper were the three Disciples that accompanied Jesus Christ in the Garden when he Pray'd telling them The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak In like manner his Spirit would have Fasted and when to that end the Offer was made to his Stomach he found it weak and without strength as having an unruly Appetite His Soul would have him Chast and Continent but when the motion presented to the Parts of Generation it found them inflamed with Concupiscence and inciting him to Actions of a contrary Nature and Tendency With such like Inclinations as these virtuous Persons find it a hard Task to live well and not without Reason was it said That the Road to Virtue was covered over with Thorns But if the same Soul that is bent upon Meditation meets a Brain Hot and Dry which are the Dispositions peculiar to Watching and if when it attempts to Fast it finds a Stomach Hot and Dry of which Constitution according to Galen the Man is that loaths Meats and if when it aims to Embrace Chastity it meets the Parts of Generation Cold and Moist without doubt it will accomplish the several Proposals without any Struggle or Reluctance whatever because the Law of the Mind and the Law of the Members exact both the same thing and such a Man in such a Case may act Virtuously without any Violence to his Nature Wherefore Galen said That it was the Part of a Physician to make a Man Virtuous that was formerly Vitious and that the Moral Philosophers committed a great over-sight in not making use of Physic for attaining the Perfection of their Art since in Correcting only the ill Constitution of the Body they might make the Virtuous act without any Check and with a sweet Consent What I would desire of Galen and all the Moral Philosophers is that admitting it to be true that to each Virtue and Vice seated in the Soul there corresponds a particular Temperament of Body which Aids or Diverts it in Acting they would have given us a particular Account of all Mens Virtues and Vices and have told us by which Corporal Qualities both one and the other are Supplanted or Maintain'd to the End we might not be to seek for a proper Remedy Aristotle knew well that a good Temperament made a Man Prudent and of a good Disposition which occasion'd him to say That the good Temperament did not only affect the Body but also the Mind of Man But he has not shewn what this good Temperament was on the contrary he asserted That Mens Dispositions were founded upon Hot and Cold. But Hippocrates and Galen exclude those two Qualities as Vitious approving the Equality of Temperament where the Heat exceeds not Cold nor the Moisture Driness Which made Hippocrates say If the great Moisture of the Water and the excessive Driness of the Fire are equally Temper'd in the Body the Man will be very Wise Nevertheless many Physicians because of the great Reputation of the Author upon Enquiring into this Temperament have found that it does not Answer what Hippocrates promised but on the contrary their Opinion was that those who had it were Weak Men and of little Vigor and did not express in their Actions so much Conduct as those of an ill Constitution They are of a very Sweet and Affable Temper and Inoffensive to every Man in Word and Deed which makes them pass for very Virtuous and void of Passion which raises Tempests in the Soul These Physicians disapprove the equal Temperament inasmuch as it disables and flats the force of the Spirits and is the cause they do not act freely as they ought Which appears evidently in two Seasons of the Year the Spring and Autumn when the Air falls out to be Temperate for then happen the Diseases insomuch that the Body is observ'd to be much more healthful when it is either very Hot or very Cold than during the mediocrity of the Spring Time Sacred Writ in speaking of the sensible Qualities seems in a mariner to favour this Opinion I would thou wert either Cold or Hot so then because thou art Lukewarm I will spue thee out of my Mouth Which seems to me to be grounded upon Aristotle's Doctrine who held for an infallible Opinion that all the Natural Actions of Man consisted in Heat and Cold and not in a Lukewarmness and Mediocrity of Constitution But Aristotle would have done well to have told us what Virtue corresponds to each of the Qualities and to what again the contrary Vice that so we might have applied in Practice the Remedies prescribed by Galen As for me I believe Cold is of more Importance to the Rational Soul to preserve its Virtues in due Peace and to prevent all undue Ferments amongst the Humours for Galen says no less there is no Quality so much blunts the Concupiscible and Irascible Faculty as Cold nor that so powerfully excites the Rational Faculty as Aristotle assures us that does especially if it be joined with Driness for this is certain as the Inferior Part is disabled or depressed the Faculties of the Rational Soul in the same proportion are exalted and inlarged But be that as
there for having no greater Enemy than Quiet they wage War one with another deposing their Kings advancing others to their Dignities they account it a Glory to Murder one another or rather turn their Swords against their own Mother's Breasts go on wickedly searching in the Bowels of the Earth which administers Matter to all their Crimes continuing after this manner all along recounting the various Capricio's of Men and the monstrous things they do and say by reason they are all distemper'd In fine he told him That this World to speak properly was but one great Bedlam where every Man's Life was an agreeable Comedy to make sport for all the rest and that truly was the Subject of his fit of Laughter Which Hippocrates having heard cryed out aloud telling the Abderites Democritus is no mad Man but the Wisest of Men and one that can make us all Wiser If we are not all mistaken we that live in Temperate Regions and eat with moderation shall all have though not always yet for the most part the very same Opinions the same Inclinations and the same Conceptions and would every one take the Pains to reason and judge of any Point of Difficulty almost all at the same instant would be of the same Sentiments But living as we do in Intemperate Regions and in those so irregularly in what relates to Eating and Drinking beset with so many Passions and Cares and subjected to every Change and Alteration of Air and Weather it is impossible but we should be sick or at least indisposed and as we are not all sick of the same Disease so usually we are not all of the same Mind nor espouse the same Opinion but each in proportion to his Evil Constitution The Parable of St. Luke agrees excellently well with this Philosophy which says that a certain Man went down from Jerusalem to Jerico and fell among Thieves which stript him of his Raiment and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead which some Doctors explain saying That this Man thus maim'd represents Humane Nature after it had sinn'd for God Created him most perfect with a Constitution and Temperament natural and agreeable to his Kind bestowing on him many Supernatural Graces for his greater Perfection and among others Original Justice by which Man gained entire Health and as Harmonious a Constitution as he could wish Whereupon St. Austin calls it the Health of Nature because it was from it proceeded that excellent Harmony in Man which subjects the Inferior Part to the Superior and the Superior to God all which Graces he lost in the very instant he Sin'd when he not only saw himself despoiled of his Gifts of Grace but of those of Nature also remaining as maim'd in both at once But be that so or not let us consider his Descendents in what State they are and what Actions they perform and we shall easily perceive they could not proceed but from Men Maim'd and Distempered At least as to what respects Free-Will 't is a certain and judged Case that since he Sin'd he remain'd in a manner half dead deprived of the Strength he had before because at the same instant Adam Sin'd he was cast out of the Terrestrial Paradice a very Temperate Place and was depriv'd of the Fruit of the Tree of Life and of other means he had to preserve his good Constitution The Life he afterwards led was exttreamly Painful he made the Earth his Bed was exposed to Heat Cold and all the Injuries of Weather the Country where he dwealt was Intemperate his Meat and Drink contrary to his Health to go bare-Footed and Naked to Sweat and Slave to spin out and get a Livelihood to have neither House nor Home to wander from Place to Place for such a Man as he especially that had been so nicely Educated doubtless might very well render him Unhealthful and Distempered So that there remained not in his Body an Organ that was not in the same Condition or that could Act with the accustomed Sweetness and Vigour Being so Distempered he enjoyed his Wife and beget Cain a Child of such a Perverse and Malicious Spirit Proud Rough Shameless Envious Wicked and of such Corrupted Manners as he transmitted together with that State of impaired Health this dangerous Disorder to his whole Race Physicians being of Opinion that the Parents Diseases fail not to descend to the Children But a great Objection arises against this Doctrin requiring no slight Solution which is this Suppose it be true that all Men are Distemper'd and of evil Constitution as we have prov'd and that from each ill Constitution is bred a deprav'd Opinion what Method shall we take to distinguish who speaks Truth amongst so many Persons that pretend to be Judges of it For if these Four Men of whom we formerly spoke were all mistaken in their Judgment of the piece of Blue Cloath they saw and had each an ill Tincture in his Sight may not the same happen in other things if each should have some particular Distemper in his Brains and after this manner Truth would remain hid without any Body being able to discover it because all the World is Crazed and Distemper'd To which I answer That the Knowlege of Man is Uncertain and Doubtful for the Reasons I have mentioned but besides that 't is to be observed that never any ill Constitution attends a Man but if it should debilitate him in one Faculty in the same proportion it strengthens him in another and if you would have it so in that which requires a different Temperament For Instance If the Brain being well temper'd should happen by Excess of Moisture to lose its good Temperament assuredly the Memory would thereby prove more Excellent but the Understanding impair'd as we shall hereafter make out And if he loses this good Temperament by too much Driness the Understanding will be thereby encreased but the Memory diminish'd So that as to what concerns the Operations relating to the Understanding a Man that has a dry Brain shall much more Excel therein than he that has a sounder and more temperate one And for the Operations of the Memory a Man of a bad Constitution because of his too much Moisture excels much more in that than a Man of the best Constitution in the World for according to the Opinion of Physicians Men of the worst Constitution in many things surpass those of the best For which reason said Plato it is a Miracle to find a Man of an excellent Wit that has not some Madness as much as to say a hot and dry Distemper of the Brain so that there is an intemperate Distemper appropriate to one sort of Science which is quite contrary to another Therefore 't is requisie a Man should distinguish what kind of Infirmity and Distemper his is and what Science in particular it suits with which is the Subject of this Treatise for in that Science he shall discover Truth but in the others he shall only make
it will I would present to a Moral Philosopher a Luxurious Drunkard and a Glutton to manage him according to the Rules of his Art and to instill into his Soul the contrary good Habits of Chastity and Temperance by these means reducing him to act with all Moderation and Sobriety without introducing into his Constitution Cold and Driness and without correcting the over-ruling Heat and Moisture there was before let us see how he will go about it Without doubt the first thing he does will be to shew him the Sordidness of Luxury and to lay before him the Train of Evils it draws after it and in what danger his Soul would be if Death should happen to surprize him on a sudden without giving him respite to repent of his Sins After this he gravely admonishes him to Fast Pray and Meditate to Sleep but little to lie hard and without Delicacy to wear Hair Clothes and Discipline himself to fly the Company of Women and to give himself wholly to Pious Works all which are comprized in this fine Aphorism of St. Paul I keep under my Body and bring it into Subjection By means of these Austerities if he practises them long he 'll appear Meager Pale and much Alter'd from what he was insomuch that he who before hunted after Women and that plac'd all his Happiness in the Pleasures of Eating and Drinking will hardly have Patience to hear them spoke of The Moralist beholding the Lewd Man so changed will say and not without reason this Man has now acquired a Habit of Chastity and Temperance But because his Art reaches no further he vainly imagines these two Virtues are come I know not from whence to make him a Visit and to take up their Lodgings in his Rational Soul without having so much as part through his Body Instead of which the discerning Physician who knows whence his loss of Blood and Spirits proceeds and how the Virtues are Begot and the Vices Extinguished will be apt to pronounce that this same Man has now the Habit of Chastity and Temperance inasmuch as by means of these Austerities he has impair'd his Natural Heat in whose stead the Cold is introduc'd For if we reflect a little further we shall clearly see this new way of living is capable of cooling him more the Horror into which the Reprimand he received threw him and the awful consideration of the Pains of Hell prepared for him if he had died in mortal Sin had without doubt mortified and chil'd his Blood Whereupon Aristotle proposed this Question Why those who are in fear falter in their Speech tremble with their Hands and hang their Lips It is says he because this Passion is a defect of Heat which commences from the Parts above Whence comes the Paleness of the Face Abstinence likewise is one of the things which chiefly mortifies the Natural Heat leaving the Man cold For our Nature is supported says Galen by Eating and Drinking in the same manner as the Flame of the Lamp is fed by the Oil and there is so much natural Heat in the Body that has digested Flesh-meats that they afford him Nourishment in proportion to his Heat and if they should yield him less in quantity his Heat would insensibly diminish Which made Hippocrates forbid the letting of Children fast because their natural Heat Evaporated and Wasted for want of being fed The Discipline given if it be dolorous and reach even to the fetching Blood every man knows it extreamly dissipates the vital and animal Spirits and from the loss of Blood the Man soon comes to lose his Hair and natural Heat As for Sleep Galen says it 's one of the things which most fortifies our Heat for by it's means that insinuates into the hidden recesses of our Bodies and Animates the Natural Virtues and much after the same manner our Food is assimilated and turned to our Substance Whereas Waking generates Corruptions and Crudities and the reason is because Sleep warms the inward Parts and cools the outward as on the contrary Waking cools the Stomach Liver and Heart which are the Vitals and inflames the external Parts the less noble and less necessary Hence he that does not Sleep well must needs be subject to many cold Diseases To Lie hard to Eat but once a day and to go Naked Hippocrates said was the utter Ruin of the Flesh and Blood wherein the natural Heat is plac'd And Galen giving the Reason why a hard Bed weakens and wastes the Flesh said That the Body was in pain and suffered deeply for want of Sleep and that by the uneasie changes of motion from side to side it was Harassed in the vain pursuit of restless Nights and how the Natural Heat decays and is dissipated by bodily Labour the same Hippocrates declares teaching how a Man may become Wise In order to be Wise a Man must not be oppressed with too much Flesh for that belongs to a hot Temperament which is the Quality that destroys Wisdom Prayer and Meditation cause the Heat to mount up to the Brains in the absence of which the other Parts of the Body remain cold and if the Intention of Mind be great they soon lose the sense of Feeling which Aristotle affirmed to be necessary to the Being of Animals and that the other Senses in comparison of that served only for Ornament and Well-Being For in effect we might live without Tasting Smelling Seeing and Hearing but the Mind being busied in some high Contemplation fails to dispatch the Natural Faculties to their Posts without which neither the Ears can hear nor the Eyes see nor the Nostrils breath nor the Taste relish nor the Touch feel insomuch as they who Meditate are neither sensible of Cold Heat Hunger Thirst nor any Weariness whatever And Feeling being the Sentinel that discovers to a Man the Good or Ill done to him he cannot be without it So that being Frozen with Cold or Burnt up with Heat or Dying away with Hunger or Thirst he is not sensible of any of these Inconveniencies because he has nothing to report them to him In such a state Hippocrates says the Soul neglects its Charge and whereas its Duty is to Animate the Body and to impart to it Sense and Motion yet nevertheless it leaves it wholly destitute and unprovided of any Succours They who are hurt in any Part of the Body and feel no Pain assuredly are distempered in Mind But the worst Disposition observed among Men of Learning and those that are devoted to Studies is a Weak Stomach because the Natural Heat required for Digestion is wanting that very Heat being usually carried to the Brain which is the cause the Stomach is filled with Crudities and Phlegm For which reason Cornelius Celsus recommends it to the Physicians care to Fortify that Part in Men of Meditation more than any others because Prayer Meditation and hard Study extreamly cool and dry the Body rendering it Melancholy For which reason Aristotle demanded Whence it is
are Valiant in another Cowards in this Deliberate in that Rash in one lovers of Truth in another Lyars according to that of the Apostle The Cretians are always Lyars evil Beasts slow Bellies And if we run through all the Variety of Meats and Drinks we shall find that some feed this Virtue and starve that Vice and others on the contrary nourish such a Vice and depress such a Virtue but in such a manner as the Man nevertheless still remains free to chuse as he pleases according to that He hath set Fire and Water before thee stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt for there is no Constitution can do more than incite the Man without forcing him if he loses not his Reason and it is to be observed that in Studying and Contemplating things Man acquires another Temperament besides what belongs naturally to the Constitution of his Body for as we shall prove hereafter of the three Powers a Man has the Memory common Sense and Imagination the Imagination only as Aristotle has noted is free to frame what it pleases and by the Operations of this Faculty Hippocrates and Galen say the vital Spirits and the Blood of the Arteries are always set on Work and in Motion she dispatches them where it seems good to her and the Parts to which the Natural Heat flies become thereby more effectual to perform their Functions and other Parts weaker Hence Galen advised the Choristers of Diana not to deal with Women since by those means without attending the Consequences the Parts of Generation would be inflamed and as they once took Fire the Voice would appear more harsh and untuneable because as Hippocrates noted The Heat of the Testicles lays the Cough and so on the Contrary for let any be put to the Blush at an Offence taken the Natural Heat strait mounts up all the Blood flying to the Heart to fortify the Irascible Faculty and to depress the Rational But if we proceed to consider that God enjoins us to forgive Injuries and do good to our Enemies and to reflect a while upon the recompence attending it all the Natural Heat and Blood strait rises up to the Face to strengthen the Rational and debilitate the Irascible Faculty and so it being at our choice with the Imagination to fortify what Faculty we please we are justly Rewarded when we strengthen the Rational and disable the Irascible Faculty and as fairly Punished when we raise the Irascible and depress the Rational Faculty From which we may judge with how good reason the Moral Philosophers recommend to us the Study and Consideration of Divine Matters since by these means alone we might acquire the Temperament and Strength which the Rational Soul has use of as well as suppress the Inferior Part. But I cannot forbear adding one thing before I end this Chapter which is That a Man may Exercise all the Acts of Virtue without having that advantageous Constitution of Body required although not without great pain and difficulty Acts of Prudence excepted for if the Man be by Nature Imprudent nothing but God can Cure it with a Remedy the same is to be understood of distributive Justice and of all the Arts and Sciences acquir'd CHAP. VI. What Part of the Body ought to be well Tempered that the Child may be Witty THE Body of Man having so great a Difference of Parts and Powers each destin'd to its end it will not be impertinent but rather highly necessary above all things to know what Part Nature has contrived as the principal Instrument to dispose a Man to be Wise and Prudent For it is certain we reason not with the Foot nor walk upon our Head nor see with our Nose nor hear with our Eyes but each Part has its proper Use and particular Composition for the Office it is to discharge That the Heart is the chief Seat where Reason resides and the Instrument by which our Souls perform the Actions of Prudence Memory and Understanding was a received Opinion amongst the Natural Philosophers before Hippocrates and Plato were born The Heart is therefore stiled the Superior Part of Man in many places of Sacred Writ which accommodates it self to the way of speaking in use at that time But those two great Philosophers have given us to understand that this Opinion is False and with great Reason and Experience have proved the Brain to be the chief Seat of the Rational Soul and thus it was generally received Aristotle only dissenting who revived that old Opinion endeavouring by Topical Arguments and several Conjectures to make it probable for the sake of contradicting Plato in every thing Not to dispute which is the truest Opinion for in our days there is not a Philosopher but allows the Brain to be the Instrument by Nature design'd to make a Man Wise and Prudent it will only be requisite to lay down the Conditions whereby that Part is best Organized that the Youth may thereby become towardly and Witty That the Rational Soul may conveniently perform the Actions of Understanding and Prudence there are required four Qualifications of the Brain Good Configuration is the First Unity of Parts the Second That the Heat exceed not the Cold nor the Moisture surpass the Driness is the Third That the Substance of the Brain be composed of very fine and delicate Parts is the Fourth Four other things are comprized under the good Configuration A good Figure is the First 〈◊〉 Sufficient Quantity the Second That there be four separate and distinct Ventricles in the Brain each disposed in its proper place the Third That its Capacity should not be greater nor less than is convenient for its Functions the Fourth We are taught by Galen to know when the Figure of the Brain is good for in reflecting on the outward Form and Figure of the Head he declares it is as it ought to be if it resembles a Ball of Wax made exactly round and comprest gently on each side which is much the Turn of the Forehead and the Hind-part of the Head a little jetting out whence it follows that the Forehead and Hind-part of the Head very flat are a sign the Brain has not the Figure approved for a sharp Wit and Ability What is most to be admired is the Quantity of Brains the Soul has occasion to make use of for Reason and Discourse because not one amongst all the Brute-Animals has so much as Man Insomuch that if the Brains of two very large Oxen were joined they would not so much as equal the Brains of one Man though never so little and what is yet more observable is that amongst Brute Beasts those who approach nearest to Man in Wit and Cunning as the Monkey the Fox and the Dog have still a greater quantity of Brains than other Animals although the same Animals are much of greater bulk than these Which made Galen say That a little Head in Man was always defective because it wanted Brains as he
also affirm'd it was no less an ill Indication to be Born with a great Jolt Head because it was all Flesh and Bones with very little Brains as it fares with very fair Oranges which when they come to be opened have little Juice and Pulp but a very thick Rind Nor is any thing more grievous to the Rational Soul than to be plunged in a Body over-stock'd with Bones with Fat and with Flesh Hippocrates speaking of the Cure of a certain kind of Phrenzy caused by Excess of Heat above all gave in charge that the Sick should eat no Flesh but only Fish and Herbs and drink no Wine at all but only Water and if he were too Corpulent too Gross and Unweildy their Endeavour should be to bring down his Flesh and for this Reason he said It was absolutely necessary for a Man that would be very Wise not to be oppressed with much Flesh nor Fat but rather to be lean and slender For the Fleshy Temperament is Hot and Moist with which 't is impossible or at least very improbable but the Soul should become Blockish and Stupid He brings for Instance the Hog affirming him to be of all Brute Beasts the most Stupid because of the load of Flesh about him his Soul in the Words of Chrysippus being of no other use to him than Salt to preserve his Body from stinking Aristotle confirms this Opinion affirming that Man to be a Sot that had an over-great Head and fleshy comparing him to an Ass because in proportion to the other Parts of his Body there is no Beast's Head so very fleshy as an Ass's But as to Corpulence it ought to be observ'd gross Men are of two sorts some abounding with Flesh and Blood whose Temperament is hot and moist as others again who have not so much Flesh and Blood as they are crammed with Fat these are of a cold and dry Constitution Hippocrates's Opinion is to be understood of the first because of the great Heat and Humidity and the abundance of Fumes and Vapors arising without intermission in those Bodies which cloud and overthrow their Reason which is not the case of the other that are only plump and fat whom the Physicians dare not bleed because they have too little Blood and there is ordinarily abundance of Wit to be found where there is not so much Flesh and Blood That we may throughly understand the great Agreement and Correspondence between the Stomach and Brains especially in what relates to Wit and Cunning Galen has declared A gross Paunch makes a gross Vnderstanding But if he means this of those that are fat he has less reason for they have a very waterish Wit Persius proceeded upon this Reason when he said That the Belly gave Wit Plato affirmed there is nothing darkens the Soul so much nor more overcasts the Brain than the black Fumes and Vapours arising from the Stomach and the Liver at the time of Digestion nor is there on the other hand any thing that elevates it to such high Meditations as Fasting and a spare Body not too overcharged with Blood as the Catholic Church sings Thou that enlivenest and relievest the Spirit by Mortifications and Humbling of the Body and by the same means depressest Vices and bestowest Virtues on us and with them their Reward This great Grace God did to St. Paul when he called to him out of the highest Heaven he remained three days without Eating ravished in Extasy with admiration of the incomparable Favours he had receiv'd at the very instant he was plunged in Vice and Sin Moreover Plato affirms that the Heads of wise Men are ordinarily tender and apt to be anoy'd upon the least occasion and the reason why Nature has made them of so delicate a Head seems to be for fear of loading them with too much Brains to the diminishing of their Wit So true is this Doctrin of Plato that tho' the Stomach be far enough from the Brain nevertheless it annoies it if it be overcharged with Fat and Flesh Nor is there any Mystery in this because the Brain and the Stomach are knit and tyed together by means of certain Nerves which Communicate their Disaffections to each other and on the contrary if the Stomach be dry and empty it much sharpens the Wit as we may see in those who are pinch't with Hunger and Want But what is more observable upon this Occasion is that if the other parts of the Body are Fat and Fleshy and the Man by this means be over-Gross Aristotle affirms he runs a risque of having no Wit at all For which reason I am of Opinion if a Man has a great Head let it be from meer Strength of Nature and from too-great abundance of well-disposed Matter yet such a one will not have so much Capacity as if he had a Head of a more moderate Size Aristotle demanding what may be the Reason of Man's being the Wisest of all Creatures Is of a contrary Opinion when he replies that no living Creature has so small a Head as Man in proportion to the Bulk of his Body for even amongst Men themselves said he they are the Wisest who have the least Heads tho' there be no Reason for this for if he had ever opened a man's Head he might have found so great a Stock of Brains that that of two Horses equals not that of one Man What I have found by Experience is that little Men have large Heads as on the contrary great Men have little Heads for a very moderate quantity of Brains better Ministers to the rational Soul in discharge of her Functions Besides all this it is requisite that there be four Ventricles in the Brain to enable the rational Soul to Reason and Discourse one disposed on the right the other on the left Side the third in the Middle and the fourth in the hinder part of the Brains as appears from Anatomy Hereafter where we shall treat of the Difference of Wits we shall shew what use the rational Faculty makes of these Ventricles be they greater or less That the Brain be well figured of sufficient Quantity and the Number of Ventricles so many little or great as we have shewn is not yet enough It 's parts must also observe a kind of Continuity without being disjoyned for which Cause we have observed some Men wounded in the Head have lost their Memory others their common Sense and others their Imagination nay even tho' the Brain after Cure has been rejoyned by Art because there was not the same Natural Union as before The third of the Four Principal Qualifications is that the Brain should be Temperate of a moderate Heat and without Excess of the other Qualities which disposition of the Brain we have already affirmed to be that called True Temper for 't is that which makes a Man capable and the contrary Incapable The Fourth that the Brain should be Composed of very fine and delicate Parts and is what
could never well be that he who was a Poet in his Madness should be one when he was well because the Temperament of the Brain a Man has in Health and from which he is to turn a Poet is ordinarily Renversed in his Sickness which is the cause of his falling into Raptures I remember the Lunatic's Wife and Sister whose Name was Mary Garcia chid him for speaking ill of the Saints which so enraged him that he spoke to his Wife after this manner Then I renounce God for your sake and the Virgin Mary for Mary Garcia 's sake and Saint Peter for John of Olmedo 's sake which fell into the following Spanish Stanza Pues reniego de Dios Por amor de vos Et de Sancta Maria Por amor de Mari Garcia Et de San Pedro Por amor de Juan de Olmedo After this rate running over a Bead-roll of Saints which Rhimed to the Names of the By-standers But this is a Matter of nothing a meer Trifle to the smart and subtle things which fell from a Page of a Spanish Grandee when Delirious though in his Health he was reckoned a Fellow of small Wit yet in Sickness he made such agreeable Discourses and such pertinent Answers to whatever was asked him forming withal so fair an Idea of the Government of a Kingdom of which he conceited himself King that all who came to see and hear him were surprized nay his own Master who never stirred from the Bed-side wished he might never be Cured As afterwards appeared more plain when the Page was recovered of his Sickness for the Physician that cur'd him going to take leave of his Lord not without hopes of receiving some Gratuity or at least a fair Acknowledgment instead of that met with this Welcom I assure you Master Doctor I never was so vext at any Accident that befel me as I am now to see my Page cured because it seems unreasonable to me to change so wise a Folly into such a stupid Understanding as his is when he is well I am of Opinion of a Wise and Sober Youth which he was you have made him an Errant Sot and a very Beast which is the greatest Misfortune that could possibly befal a Man The poor Physician perceiving how disagreeable the Cure he had performed was went to take leave of the Page and at length after many things that passed to and fro between them the Page said to him Sir I thank you heartily and kiss your hand for the great good you have done me in bringing me to recover my Understanding but I swear to you by my Faith it is not without great Regret I am cured for whilst I was Frantic I had the pleasantest Enjoyments in the World conceiting my self a kind of Grand Signior and that there was no King on Earth but was my Vassal And what signified it though it were Imaginary since I took as much pleasure in it as if it had been really true My Condition is much worse at this present for I find my self in reality but a poor Page that must to morrow morning begin to serve him whom in my Sickness I should hardly have deigned to make my Page 'T is of no great Importance what the Philosophers think of this and by what means it is brought to pass for I am able to assure them from very credible Histories that some Ignorant Fellows that were Sick of the same Disease have talked Latin without ever so much as knowing what they said when they came once to themselves I could tell of a She-Lunatic who told all that came to see her their Virtues and Vices And sometimes with greater certainty than those who usually pretend to Divine by Signs and Conjectures so that no Body durst go see her for fear of the Truths she revealed And what raised their Admiration yet higher was at the Instant the Barber-Surgeon was bleeding her she said to him take care what you do for you have not many Days to live and your Wife shall marry again with such an one which prov'd true and came to pass ere six Months were expired tho' she said it at random Methinks I already hear from those that slight Natural Philosophy that it is a meer Mockery and a Fable or if it be true that the Devil as he is subtle and cunning enters by God's Permission into the Body of this Woman and the other Lunatics we have already spoke of making them utter those surprizing things Yet ought they to be tender in saying thus because the Devil not having the Spirit of Prophecy cannot know future things They hold it for a strong Argument to prove it false that they do not understand how it can be done as if difficult and sublime things were to be understood by every Capacity I shall not go about to convince those by Reason that have not any themselves because it would prove Labour in Vain But I shall chuse to speak to them from Aristotle that the Men who have such a proper Disposition as their Actions require may know many things without having them transmitted by any particular Sense or having learn'd them from any Teacher Many also because this Heat is near the Seat of Wit are inflamed or struck with the Disease of Lunacy or fired with a furious Impulse whence came the Sybils and the Maenades and such as were supposed to be Inspired by a Divine Spirit this happening not so much by Sickness as by a Natural Excess Marcus a Citizen of Siracuse was the better Poet for it when he was out of his Wits and those in whom this excessive Heat is more remiss and moderate are compleatly Melancholic but much Wiser By these Words Aristotle openly owns that many Men by reason of the extream Heat of their Brain know things to come even as the Sybils did which proceeds not as he says so much from Sickness as from the Inequality of Natural Heat And for this very Reason he proved it clearly in the Instance of Marcus the Syracusian who was a very excellent Poet all the time he was beside himself from an over-heated Brain but as this great Heat came to be moderated he lost the Art of making Verses though he remained more Prudent and more Wise So that Aristotle not only allows the Temperament of the Brain for the principal Cause of these strange Effects but also reproves them that affirm it to be by Divine Revelation and not a Natural thing Hippocrates was the first that gave the name of Divine to these wonderful Effects If there be any thing Divine in Distempers the Prognostic of it must also be learn'd By which he advises the Physicians when they guess at Diseases they should thence frame a Judgment in what state they are and from that predict the Crisis of their Distemper But what surprized me most in this Case is That if I should ask Plato how it comes that of two Children of the same Father
fed on Beef or Pork in a short time his Brain would have been gross and of ill Temperament with which his Rational Soul would not have been able to have refus'd the Evil and chosen the Good but by way of Miracle and employing of his Divinity But God leading him by Natural Means ordered that he should eat those delicate Meats with which his Brain being nourished was made an Instrument so well organiz'd as even without the use of Divine or Infus'd Knowledge he might Naturally refuse the Evil and chuse the Good like the rest of the Sons of Men. Soli Deo Gloria * Bartolus * Dial. de Justo Demons confer with Meâ—… very familiarly however foâ—… one Truth that they tell them oâ—… any importance they deceivâ—… them with a thousand Lyes Baldus ought to have lefâ—… Physic and Studied the Law for the reason Cicero gave iâ—… the following Words Whâ—… therefore shall have seriouslâ—… consulted his Genius upoâ—… the manner of getting a livelihood provided it be honest ought to remain fixt iâ—… it and that is most commendable if he be not convinced that he is mistakeâ—… in his Choice Cicero lib. 1 Offic. In Spain Nature can join but two different kinds of Wit and in Greece three Paul I. to the Corin. chap. XII * Chap. XXV The reason of this is that the Supernatural Sciences have their Seat in the Soul and the Soul is according to Aristotle subject to the Temperament and Constitution of the Body Arist lib. 2. de 〈◊〉 * Eccles chap. xvii * Lib. de Fatâ— * Dialog de Scientia That Comparison may be Verified in Socrates's Understanding alone because he taught by Interrogating in a manner causing the Scholar to attain the Science without being taught it * Lib. lex Hippo. * XXX Sect Prob. IV. †Ibid * Dialo de justo †In Oratio suasor ad bonas artes In the second division of Man's Age call'd Youth all the various parts of Wit as far as possible are united that being of all the most temperate therefore not convenient to suffer it to pass away without engaging it in that sort of Learning of which a Man is to make profession * Cic. 1. Off. * Gen. XII Tu nihil invita Dicesfaciesve Minerva * VIII Meth c. IV. * Lib. de Ordin libror suorum Nature is the most necessary Condition of all by which those that apply themselves to Arts penetrate thoroughly Hipp. de decen ornatu Baldus coming to Study the Law in his Old Age was laughed at and told Sero venis Balde in alio seculo eris Advocatus Yet having a Genius adapted to the Study of the Law he proved in a short time a very extraordinary Lawyer A Man ought to know enough of each Science how far its Jurisdiction extends and what Questions properly belong to it * In Epist ad Damegeâ—um * Job ch XXXIII †Lib. 1. de Coelo The Ignorance of Natural Philosophy makes Men assign Miracles where they should not * Lib. II. de Physic auscult †XXX Sect. Prob. I. * Lib. Art Medic. ch XI * Lib. Art Med. cap. XXI * Lib. IV. de part animalum †XXX Sect. prob III. * Lib. de alimento †De partium formatione * Lib. de aere locis et aquis †IV. Sect. prob IV. ‖ Lib. de opt corp constit c. IV. * Diale de â—â—t * Lib. VI. de locis affectis cap. VI. A Faulconer affirmed to me upon Oath that he had an excellent Hawk for Sport which became good for nothing yet by applying a Cautery he recovered him Plato taking from Holy Writ the best Sentences in his Works thence got the Name of Divine * Lib. I. de post resolut cap. I. * Lib. III. de ani The Menstrous Seed and Blood the two Principal Matters of which we are formed are hot and moist by means of which Temperament Children are of necessity Stupid and Ignorant Galen lib. I. de sanitat tuenda When the Brain becomes hot in the first Degree it makes the Man fluent suggesting to his Wit many things to say but the reserv'd have all a cold Brain as the great Talkers a hot one That Frenzy was caused by abundance of Choler imbib'd in the Substance of the Brain for that is the proper Humor for Poetry which occasion'd Horace to say That if the Choler were not purged away in the Spring there would hardly ever be a better Poet than himself De arte Poetica This Page was not absolutely Cured The Sybils admitted by the Catholic Church had the same natural Disposition mentioned by Aristotle and besides that the Spirit of Prophecy infused by God for it was not enough to possess a Natural Wit though never so Sublime to reveal such elevated things as they did * Lib. I. Prob. V. When the Distempered utter such Divine things it is a Sign that the Rational Soul is disingaged from the Body and none such Recover Cicero fell into the same Error Pro Archia Poeta * XI Sect. Prob. XXVII †De Divinatione Those who fall Sick and are called Melancholic are endued with a kind of Divination Cicero de Divinat * Gen. ch XLIX * Chap. I. to the Romans * Dialogo de Natura * Dialo de natura Homer informing us that Ulysses was always Wise feigns that he was never turned into a Hog * Lib. Quod animi mores cap. VI †Lib. I. de natura hom com XI ‖ XXX Sect Prob. I. * Ch. xxviii †Epidem V. com IX The Heart of the wise Man is where Sadness is to be found of which the Property is to dry and the Heart of the Fool where Joy is of which the Property is to moisten Eccles c. vii * Lib. I. de natur huma com XI And thus Cicero defining the Nature of Wit puts the Memory in Docility and Memory which are in a manner called by the same Name as Ingenuity De fin bon mal lib. I. * De Offic. Med. com IV. * XXX Sect. prob IV. * VI. Apho. com xxvi †Lib. de memor reminise * Lib. Art Med. cap. XII †Lib. II. Aph. com XX. * Lib. Quod animi mores cap. V. Of these two Differences of Wit Aristotle speaks thus He indeed is the Best that of himself comprehends every thing but then again he is not Bad who follows him that is in the right Arist lib. I. Doct. Item lib. III. de Anima Galen affirms the Invention of Art and Writing of Books is obtained by the Understanding or the Memory or the Imagination therefore he that Writes that he may retain many things in his Memory should say nothing new Lib. I. de Officio Medic. Comp. IV. This Difference of Wit is very dangerous in Divinity wherefore the Understanding ought to abide by what our Mother the Catholick Church has said and declared * VI. Epid. V. Com. XI This Difference of Wit is very agreeable