little I know not what you call them for they were not Beings but I think Formalities He was the first Father of them in the Philosophical World and he that gave them first Repute They be the prettyest littlest slender you'd think them next to nothing Perceiving we were Philosophers to be a little more affable than ordinary he began to ask us what we thought of an Vniversal a parte rei and whether we did not take it to be Objective Precisions Our old Gentleman who besides his Cartesian Ideas upon Philosophy had still a Relick of that gruff and surly Humour Aristotle's Compliments had provok'd answered him in a careless Air We concern not our Heads much with such insipid Trifles that it was but Irish Gibbrish and that none of us had any Pretensions to the Elogy Buchanan gives his Country Philosphers otherwise Men of Sense and Worth Gens ratione furens mentem pasta Chimeris Trifles and Chimera's reply'd Scotus They are the finest and most solid Questions in Philosophy By this it was we distinguished our selves in my time by that Subtilty wherewith I handled these Questions I was advanced to the quality of Doctor Subtilis Trifles and Chimeras quoth a You French Philosophers have you ever read the History of the Vniversity of Paris If you have not read it read it You will see if these things were look'd on heretofore as Trifles You will see under the Reign of the young Lewis one Rousselin of Britanny at the Head of the Nominals disputing Hand to Fist in the Vniversity of Paris against those who held an Universal a parte rei and from Arguments they came to Swords that there was Man-slaughter in the Case You will see what I have been told is done since I quit your World That in the reign of Lewis the Eleventh the Court and Parliament interposed themselves in Philosophical Differences which you call Trifles that by the order of the King the Books of the Nominals were chain'd and pad-lock'd strictly prohibiting the opening them ever after And I would to God those Decrees had not been repeal'd by the Asserters of that empty Philosophy which will have Universality consist in Names and Conceptions Then at this day I should have reign'd absolute in the Schools But continu'd he taking Courage Are not you of that Party of Philosophers I have heard talk of some time since and whose Works I have likewise seen in a Visit I made Aristotle who have a certain British Cavilier for their Leader called Descartes Yea verily reply'd our old Cartesian and we take it as an Honour so to be Be gone cry'd he all in a Rage and Passion Away with you Hence Hereticks as you are who take it for an Honour to be of a Sect which by its Principles is oblig'd to renounce the Faith of our most Holy Mysteries Your Descartes holds that a determinate Extension is essential to a Body and that a Body being once of the size of a Cubical Foot it would be as great a Contradiction to lose that Extension as to conceive a Mountain without a Valley It will be then a Contradiction that the Body of the Saviour of the World which had the bulk of many Feet should be comprehended in the space of the least Particle of the Consecrated Host. Once more be gone Excommunicates And since you will stay here in spight of me I abandon the place and forthwith he march'd off That his extraordinary Zeal was no less surprizing than diverting But that which pleas'd me most was That upon our leaving that place the two Aristotelian Souls which Voetius had deputed to accompany us began by the way to resume the Argument of Scotus and to urge it vigourously against Father Mersennus and my old Man who were much perplexed to rid their Hands of it But they proposed an Argument against the manner whereby M. Descartes and after him M. Rohault undertake to explain the Mystery of the Eucharist without the assistance of absolute Accidents which may merit a place in this Relation M. Descartes in his Answer to the fourth Set of Objections propos'd against his Metaphysical Meditations explains the Mystery of the Eucharist as follows He says That the Body of I. C. after the Consecration is in the self-same place the Bread was in before but that it is so precisely in the same space that in what place soever it was true to affirm before the Consecration here is Bread it is true to say after the Consecration here is the Body of I. C. So that if we conceive that before the Consecration there was whether in the Surface or in the Substance of the Bread little Piramidal Cubical or Triangular Spaces fill'd with Piramidal Cubical or Triangular Parts of Bread we must conceive after the Consecration those little Spaces are possessed in the same exactness by the Body of I. C. From whence it follows according to him That when 't is said the Body of I. C. is comprehended in the same Dimensions and the very Superficies as the Bread by that word Superficies is to be understood not only that external Surface that terminates the total Figure of the Bread but also that which terminates all the parts which are in the depth and substance of it separated from one another by the Pores and little Intervals that are fill'd up with Air or some other Heterogeneous Bodies In so much that should some insensible parts of the Bread be put in motion by the Air or some other Body the new Substance that takes the place of those insensible Parts is equally put in Motion Upon that Supposition M. Descartes argues thus Whatever makes an Impression upon our Senses is only the Superficies of a Body Every Body therefore that has the same Superficies as the Bread will make the same Impressions on our Senses as the Bread Therefore since the Body of I. C. is so precisely in the same space as the Bread that it hath the same Superficies to an Hair it must inevitably make the same Impressions on our Senses as the Bread that is it must reflect the Light as the Bread did and with the same Modifications And from hence we see in it the same Colour and the same Figure It must be press'd towards the Centre of the Earth by the Impulse of the same Matter that pressed the Bread before because of the Figuration of its Parts of which it was composed and hence we perceive in it the same Gravity It must vibrate the Nerves of our Tongue and insinuate it self into the Pores just as did the insensible parts of the Bread and hence we apprehend in it the same Taste c. From whence he concludes That Mystery may be admirably explained without the incumbrance of absolute Accidents which are kept in service without any occasion for them See then one Difficulty among many others our Peripateticks proposed against that Explication we will demonstrate said they that granting that Hypothesis the Bread is not
at all changed into the Body of Iesus Christ in the Eucharist but that after the Consecration the Bread still remains in the Host. In order to their Demonstration they demanded of Father Mersennus and the old Gentleman I. Whether by the Principles of Descartes the Matter of all Bodies considered in it self and independently of the different Modifications of its Parts was not of the same Species They answered Yes II. If that which constituted the Specific Difference of Bodies was not according to them the different Configuration the different Situation and the different Motions of the Parts of those Bodies They acknowledged it That supposed said they we 'll evidently prove That the Substance in the Eucharist after its Consecration is nothing else but Bread for the Matter or the Substance which hath the same Configuration of Parts the same Motion and in a Word all the same Modifications that constitute the Essence of Bread is Bread according to the aforesaid Principle But the Substance found in the Dimensions of the Host after the Consecration has all those Modifications and 't is only by the Means of those Modifications we conceive it to have the same Superficies as the Bread taking the Word Superficies in the same Sense Descartes gives it And 't is in vertue of those Modifications that that Superficies makes the same Impressions on our Senses as the Bread did before the Consecration And 't is from the same Reason that it reflects its Light precisely to the same Angles as the Bread That it receives all the same Impulses and the same Determinations of the Matter that pushes it towards the Centre as the Bread That it communicates the same Vibrations to the Nerves of the Tongue as the Bread Therefore the Substance that is in the Space of the Host after the Consecration according to Descartes's Principles has the Form or the Essence of Bread therefore it is Bread which was to be demonstrated And from thence our Catholick Peripateticks concluded It was not without good Ground that Recourse was had to Absolute Accidents in the Explication of that Mystery They made yet one Reflection more upon a Saying Descartes adjoyns to his Explication and which ruines his Answer Notwithstanding says he the Body of Iesus Christ to speak properly is not there as in a Place but Sacramentally For said they What is it for God's sake to be in a Place in proper speaking but entirely to fill a Space to hinder the Passage of other Bodies that present themselves to reflect the Light to be pressed downward to have Motion c. But all this according to Descartes agrees to the Body of Iesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Host. And on the contrary the Notion commonly received of a Sacramental Existence attributes not to a Body in that Capacity all those Properties for none of those that have spoke of the Body of Iesus Christ in the Sacrament have supposed it was that which reflects the Light c. Nay they say the quite contrary So they concluded deriding the Vanity of the Applause M. Descartes assumes to himself in that Place upon the Intelligible Manner wherewith he pretends to have explained that Mystery and upon the Obligations he has laid on the Orthodox Divines for having furnished them with an Opinion more agreeable with Divinity than those usually received Applause as well grounded as the Prophecy he made a little after by which one Day it shall come to pass that as soon as the World shall be reclaimed from the Prejudices of the School all the Opinions of our Old Philosophers and Divines thereupon shall disappear and vanish as Shadows at the Approach of that Light wherewith those Glorious Principles of the New Philosophy shall fill the Minds of all such as know how well to use them For my part I was of Opinion upon hearing Monsieur Descartes so refuted that he had better have stuck to his general Answer be it as bad as it will That he was a Philosopher and not a Divine and that he pretended not to explain the Mysteries of our Religion by the Principles of his Philosophy I was astonished too in that Occurrence That such sort of Answers had the good Luck to meet with no Reply especially having to do with M. Arnauld who would never willingly take the last Blow in Point of Disputes and Books But I am persuaded I have since found the Solution of that Difficulty in a Letter M. Decsartes wrote to a Father of the Oratory a Sorbon Doctor He says speaking of M. Arnauld That his only Judgment as young a Doctor as he was was of more Weight with him than that of half the Ancient Doctors of the Sorbon Was not a Clearing of that nature able to disarm the most incensed Adversary in the World During that Dispute wherein Father Mersennus and the Old Blade thought it unnecessary to keep to Mood and Figure and were content to evade the Objection by much raillery upon Absolute Accidents alledging they ought to be banish'd to the Desert of Scotus to make up his Train and Attendance with all his little Formalities We crossed the Calm Sea and turning short to the Right we passed through Hipparchus Ptolomeus and the Peninsula of the Stars and from thence we cut through the Sea of Clouds We entred into the Demy-Island of Dreams I mentioned in the beginning so called from the little Mansions in the Globe of the Moon inhabited for the most Part with Chymists that are in Pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone having not been able to find it upon Earth and a World of Iudicial Astrologers who still are as great Asses as they were in the other World and spend all their Time in making Almanacks and correcting by exact Supputations the false Horoscopes they made in their Life time Among others we found Cardan who though he was possessed of a good Copy-hold Eastward on the Shoar of the Ocean of Tempests could not yet forbear making frequent Visits of his Brethren of the same Society He passed away his Time but discontentedly having not yet conquered the Shagrin and Melancholy occasioned by that Notable Horoscope of Edward VI. King of England whose most remarkable Fortunes and Adventures he had foretold quite to the Fiftieth Year of his Age who yet had the confounded Luck to die at Fifteen Two other things much of the same Nature entertained his Thoughts in that deep Melancholy The first was the Death of his Son whose Horoscope had proved Faulty he having not foreseen what yet came to pass That he should be executed at Milan in the four and twentieth Year of his Age for poysoning his Wife The other thing was the uncharitable behaviour of Scaliger and Monsieur de Thou in publishing in their Books to all Posterity That he was suffered to dye with Hunger For after all said he to us they are Lyars for were I dead 't was impossible I should be here I must confess that having foretold the
Age of fifty four Was he so much out of Love with his Life as to neglect the repairing those effluxes of his Machine whose Failures and Disasters he could so easily foresee Do you believe then returned he that M. Descartes is dead I know not said I how you understand it but methinks the Corps of a Man should not be buried unless he was dead before and all the World knows that in the Year 1650. M. Chersilier prefde Lett. de M. Descarâ—es the Body of M. Descartes was interred at Stockholm with great Pomp and Solemnity by the Care of M. Chanut his particular Friend and then Embassador of France at the Court of Sweden That since M. Dalibert hath ordered his Bones to be removed to Paris and to be disposed of in the Church of S. Geneve where his Epitaph is to be seen engraven upon a fair White Marble It seems to me once more That all this supposes a Man as dead as dead can be All these Particulars are true said my Cartesian but for all that it is false that M. Descartes is dead for that we call Death is when our Body becoming incapable of Vital Functions either by the Defailure of the Organs which are wore out in the Succession of Years or corrupted by some Disease or endammaged by some Hurt or Wound the Soul is oblig'd to quit her Habitation following the Laws of their Union establish'd by the Sovereign Master of the Universe But Cartesius's Soul was by no means separated from his Body after this manner Hear then the Matter of Fact About three or four Months after his Arrival in Swedeland where Queen Christina had invited him and did him the Honour to entertain him in her Library an Hour in a Morning every Day Pref. de lett de Deâ—cartes He was seized in the midst of Winter with an Inflammation of the Lungs seconded with a Giddiness in the Brain but the Fever having left his Brain there had been no great Difficulty in his Recovery Lett. de Descartes Himself had wrote a little Time before to one of his Friends That he had made some Discoveries in Anatomy that insur'd his Life for an hundred Years And 't is known that M. Descartes did not use to go by Guessing or advance any thing without a firm Assurance but an unseasonable Misfortune rendred his Prediction fruitless seeing he had not rested well that Night his Soul had a Mind to take a little Turn for Recreation-sake he takes his usual Dose of Snush and his Soul leaves his Body in the Bed By ill Luck the Physician contrary to his Custom came to visit him at Midnight the Noise he made in entring the Chamber did not awake his Body whose Senses were perfectly laid asleep by vertue of the Herb of which I spoke that was mingled with the Tobacco But having put to his Nose a Vial of extreamly Spirituous Liquor to fortifie the Brain it made a more quick and lively Sally upon the Organ of Sense than Hungary Water used to do which M. Descartes Soul made use of when she would re-enter the Body and conclude its Trance it caused it to open its Eyes and to give some Groans The Physician ask'd it how he did The Machine accustomed some Days ago to answer to that Question That he was very ill made still the same reply but to other Questions the Physician proposed since the Soul was not there to talk rationally and answer to the purpose the Answers were full of Extravagance and Delirium just as the Machine was determined by the Voice of the Doctor It talked eternally of the Separation of its Soul from its Body because the last Thoughts the Soul entertained in the Act of separating her self were those of that Separation which had left some Figures or Traces stamp'd upon the Brain answering to those Thoughts and determining the Tongue to a Motion requisite to pronounce such sort of Words These Symptoms enduc'd the Doctor to believe he was again transported with a Raving in his Head wherefore he is out of Hand blooded in the Foot Cupping-Glasses are apply'd and several other Violent Remedies which so exhausted and altered his poor Body that in a short Time it had spent all its Strength it 's natural Heat began to faint and lose itself by little and little a Deâ—luction of his Brain fell into his Breast and in a Word it became a meer Cadaver and unable to perform the Duties of Life and to receive his Soul Thus it happened so that you see a Man may truly say M. Descartes is not dead Assuredly Sir said I this is not to dye according to due Form and Method nevertheless the Swedish Physician would be held Guiltles before all the Faculties of Europe for he has followed the Rules of his Art he acted according to appearance and if he did but understand what you are teaching me That M. Descartes is not dead he might boast of the Greatest and most unprecedented Exploit that was ever known in Medicine I mean to have killed a Man without causing him to die But Sir I beseech you continued I acquaint me if you know What was the Destiny of M. Descartes Soul for according to the uncontroverted Principles of our Faith a Soul in leaving this World receives her Arrest for Eternity and either has her Portion in Paradice Hell or Purgatory for some Time That Question ruffled my old Gentleman And in the Name of God said he almost in a Passion rid your self of that Ridiculous Custom you have taken up in the Schools of introducing Questions of Religion in Matters purely Philosophical M. Descartes had once thought to renounce his Philosophy or at least refuse to publish his Works to save him the Trouble of answering those impertinent Objections which were made at every turn and upon all occasions I am giving you clear Matter of Fact and you desire me to Account for the Conduct of God But in brief have not I forestall'd all your Difficulties when I told you M. Descartes was not Dead And since he is not Dead why demand you if he has submitted to a Judgment the Dead are only concern'd in I beg'd his Pardon for my Imprudence and agreed with him That nothing was more unseasonable and inconvenient than such sort of occasional Questions to a Philosopher that had made a System without regard to any thing of that Nature And that likewise put me in mind of entreating my Readers to use the same Candor towards me That they will not wrangle with me upon the Point of separate Souls whole Shoals of which I meet with in my Voyage to the World of Descartes nor tye me to answer all the Scruples they might be able to raise on that Account For therein bottom the most agreeable Passages of my History with which I should not present the Publick but upon that Condition I would entreat them to remember the Priviledg these Cartesian Gentlemen take who when perplex'd
place of Residence of the Soul and it is pursuant to and on the Account of that Concussion the Soul forms an Idea of the Object which she perceives or apprehends in the manner we call Seeing And it is according to the various Modifications of that Concussion that she sees Objects at several distances under divers Figures and of different Colours From whence it follows that the Perceptions or Ideas of the Soul have no necessary dependence on the Objects but only on the exteriour Organ which may be prov'd by a thousand Experiments but especially by that of Phrenetick People who perceive Objects quite different from what they really are and see them where they are not Now that you may perceive a Body in the place where I am when no such thing is there it is sufficient that your interiour Organ should be moved in such a manner as it would be if a Body was really there That 's the thing I now am actually doing upon your Optick Nerve to make you know that I am here That is it which causes you to see a Body though in truth there is none to see And what I act upon the Organ of Sight to make a Body appear the same I do in proportion upon that of Hearing to find you Sounds and Words I impress a like Motion upon the Strings of your Nerves of the fifth Conjugation as would the Vibrations and Undulations of the Air were it agitated by the Motion of a Tongue and the Mouth of a Man who should stand where I seem to do and should utter the same Words you at present hear Upon these Principles it was F. Maignan that a Father of our Order has most ingeniously unfolded the Mysteries of the Holy Sacrament without the assistance of that Medly of absolute Accidents that could never be conceiv'd For says he when we are taught the Body of I. C. is under the appearance of Bread nothing more is intimated than that the Body of I. C. is truly there where the Bread was and seems still to us to be to the end that Bread may appear where the Body of I. C. actually is God acts upon our Senses He there produces the self-same Motions and makes the same Impressions the Bread did before So when our Lord presented himself to St. Magdalen in the form of a Gardiner it was by acting upon her Eyes just as the Visage and Habit of the Gardiner would have done and not by cloathing himself with the absolute Accidents of a Gardinâ—r But that which you may gather from this present Experience is the manner how the Dead appear who sometimes by God's Permission present themselves to those alive For they appear by the same Method as I do actually my self And those Bodies of Air or Water which some pretend they attire themselves withal are only the Whymâ—ies and Forgeries of their Imagination who have treated of Devils craft in supposing the Principles of the School Philosophy Have you any farther Difficulty said he upon that Point Ah! Father reply'd I you have made it as clear as the Sun and have given me infinite Satisfaction Your Discourse is altogether Spiritual I rely not much upon the Explication of that Father of your Order upon the Mystery of the Eucharist I take it for a Maxim with the wisest of the Catholick Philosophers That all Novelty in such sort of Things is dangerous at least always ought to be suspected You have absolutely dispers'd the Doubts that troubled me It was indeed long ago that I had a Notion Sensation was caus'd by the Local Motion of the Organs but that Idea was not unperplex'd Aristotle had said it before Cartesius Arist. in Probl. but had not explain'd it From this time forth I renounce for ever a great part of the Ideas I had fram'd thereupon I solemnly abjure before you all the Axioms that respect the Active Passive and passible Intellect I acknowledg they are Terms that signifie nothing and are of no use but to make the Ignorant to stare who cannot understand them but imagine the Philosophers can After that Protestation Father Mersennus's Soul mov'd my Organ in such a manner as gave me to apprehend he was well pleas'd Which made me take the boldness of proposing a second Scruple Father said I I don 't well understand what that World is of M. Descartes where you would conduct me For in reading M. Descartes I did conceive his World was nothing else but this of ours explain'd by the Principles of his Philosophy And I distinctly remember I have read in a Letter he had formerly wrote these Words That he should think himself undeserving of the Name of a Natural Philosopher if he could only tell how Things might be without demonstrating they could not be otherwise There he Bravado's it a little Let. 37. Tom. 2. But that confirms me that when he speaks the contrary and says he pretends not to give an Account of Things as they are in the World but only how they ought to be in a World that he imagins he would be angry should we credit him thereupon What you say is true reply'd Father Mersennus M. Descartes design'd not to be believed in that Particular So that the World of M. Descartes is in earnest this World explain'd by the Principles of his Philosophy But it is also true that there is or rather will be very speedily another World that may more properly be call'd Descartes's World since it will be of his own Contrivance And that 's the World with which this Gentleman your Friend has entertain'd you and that we shall give you a sight of if you please Nothing certainly said I will be more diverting I would quit the Racing or the Festivals of Versailles to be Spectator of this Prodigy which doubtless is the compleatest Work of Philosophy and the almost Master-piece of Human Nature But Sir said I turning to my old Gentleman the Story of Descartes you have formerly related gives me some disturbance The Voyage you know is very long and a World like this he is about is not to be built in one Hour's time I know my Soul loves her Body very well and would be much concern'd at her return to find it incapacitated to receive her And an hundred Accidents may happen against which no one can give Security We are provided for them all said he Look towards the bottom of your Bed Good God I cry'd out scar'd out of my Senses What is' t I see The Devil then is one of your Club Wretched Mortal that I am I am lost undone However I 'll die without any familiarity with him Monsieur avaunt I renounce utterly your Enchantments and your Magick Softly foftly said he why all this Alarm He is no Devil that you see though Black He 's far from being a Devil This is the Soul of a little Black that waits upon Descartes To ease you of all Scruples and Disquiet in a word or two I
Journey 's End as soon as at least was but a Trice behind hand with the other that never touched at all and on the other Hand impressed a very considerable Motion on the Engine For whether we measure the Quantity of the Motion by the Bulk Compass of the Body moved or whether we measure it by the largeness of the Space traversed by the Body in those innumerable Circles it described spight of the Resistance of the medium wherein it turned Or likewise whether we consider the swiftness of the Motion it is manifest the Ball communicated much more Motion to â—he other Body than it lost itself And on the contrary granting the supposition you have just made unto my Hands to demonstrate a Proposition of Descartes I mean that the Sails had been unequally ballanc'd and of a different Bigness that the Axle had been Gross unsmooth or rusty and that the Ball had grazed on one of the Sails less obliquely than it did it is certain in these Circumstances the Ball had lost much more of its swiftness and its Motion yet would have impress'd or communicated much less than it hath at present What now 's become of those grand Principles of M. Descartes that a Body at the same instant that it moves another communicates exactly so much Motion to it as it loses and precisely loses the same Quantity it communicates for here the Bullet communicates a great deal but loses little and in the other Supposition it loses much and communicates but little What now becomes of those mighty Axioms that lay the Foundation of his Physicks and support the whole Frame and Structure of his World Part. 2. princ p. 37 let 72. tom 〈◊〉 That God in the Creation of the World or Matter created at the same Time in it a definite Quantity of Motion or Transport as he himself styles it from one Place to another which is always the same without Increase or Diminution although the Parts of which the World 's composed have sometimes more and sometimes less of it forasmuch as what is lost in me is of Necessity received into another That God is the universal Cause of all the Motion in the World That the Creatures have no Pretence to its Production and can only determine that produced already c. For if a Body communicates more than it has in it self God or the Body it self must needs produce the overplus of the new and if a Body loses more than it communicates that which is lost and not communicated must of necessity be annihilated And this is sufficient to demonstrate that the Quantity of Motion is not always the same in the World but on the contrary it increases and decreases every Moment In a Word we see here a considerable Part of Matter put into a rapid Motion that before had none at all I will suppose it was in an Equilibrium and that a little thing would turn the Scales that will not do our Business it will still be true to say there is a new Transport communicated to a large Quantity of Matter That that Transport is no small one since it carries a great deal of Matter through a great deal of Space yet notwithstanding the Ball hath not lost the least imaginable seeing it is carried as far and as swift within a Trifle as it would have been if it had communicated none at all But that which seemed of most Importance was the Immutability of God that was interessed in this Affair For the Reason why M. Descartes was so zealous to preserve the same Quantity of Motion to a Grain was because God's unchangable See where this Trifie now has led us But what a Mischief would it be if this petty Instance overturning the Principle of the Quantity of Motion should shatter all those Seven fine Rules of Motion Descartes has established with so exact a Calculation Mean while they all take it for granted and subsist but on the Courtesie of that Supposition however he makes no Scruple to conclude his Explication with this remarkable Passage All this is so evident it needs no Demonstration But not to lose Time in drawing other Inferences Part. 2. princip methinks my Reverend Father I may at least with some Pretence of Reason say M. Descartes here has weakly maintained his Resolution that he made in his Stove in Germany Meth. p. 〈◊〉 37. when he there began to play the Philosopher I mean of avoiding above all things a too heady forwardness in his Determinations and the establishing any Principle without examining of it with all possible Diligence and upon greater Evidence than the most palpable Demonstrations in Geometry afford of having so strict an Eye in every thing and of making so exact an Analysis of all the Propositions he advanc'd that he might be certain nothing could escape him for had he guarded himself with these Precautions before he proposed his Doctrin concerning Motion your Wind-mill and an hundred Instances might have come in to his Head and probably have altered his Opinion at least prevented him from saying These things were all so evident they seemed to need no Demonstration I foresaw that this Discourse would not relish well with my Companions and I am sure my old Blade began already to repent him of his Vouching for me to Father Mersennus as a Person that with an implicit head-strong Resolution embraced Cartesianism The Good Father however gently reply'd That he had observed three Things in my Discourse a little Malignity in my Reflections abundance of false Prejudice that still stuck by me whatever Assurance I had given to the contrary and some Difficulties at the Bottom for the clearing of which it was convenient to discourse Cartesius But let them said he seem as Big and as Frightful as they can they will presently disappear upon his conversing with you I have experienced it an hundred Times No Man was ever more troublesome to him in Questions than my self which I us'd to make on all Occasions even 'till I wearied him These Difficulties once I thought inexplicable but one Letter of about a Page he wrote me dispersed all my Doubts and gave me more Light into the Matters then in Hand than the entire Volumes of other Men. I much expected the Reproach of Prejudice for that 's the ordinary Refuge of Cartesius and the Gentlemen his Disciples when they find themselves press'd a little home I urged however that Point no further to him I only excused my self from the Malignity he charged upon my Reflections and upon the Hopes he gave me of the Solution of my Difficulties by M. Descartes I rejoyn'd You exceedingly rejoyce me Reverend Father for I am a Cartesian in my Heart though I am not a through pac'd one in my Mind wanting sufficient Light to extricate my Doubts which the Reading the Books of that Great Man has raised in me but I have a sincere Love for Truth and assure your self I shall wholly resign my self
up unto her so soon as M. Descartes shall present her to me After that Protestation which seemed a little to reinstate me in their good Oponion we launch'd again And it will not be amiss to advise my Reader here this once for all That whatever Room these Harangues and Disputes take up upon the Paper they lasted but one single instant since separate Spirits entertain each other a quite different way from that they use when in the Body whose Tongue pronounces but one Syllable at a Time one Spiritual Word that a Separate Soul shall speak unto another Soul is more full and expressive than a thousand pronounced or written And since my taking of this Voyage I have made a World of fine Discoveries for the explaining the Way that Angels discourse together I question not but to be in Print some Time or other upon that Occasion I confess I shall speak many Things that for want of Use will not be understood but my Book may find no less a Welcome and Esteem for that but rather the good Fortune Books of Mysterious Divinity have met with that have been for some Time the only ones in Fashion recommended meerly by their being unintelligible to those that read them and pretending to be understood by the Composers for it is known by too manifest Experience the Authors of those Books are not always such mighty Saints as they would seem We parted then from the Top of the Tower before the Instrument desisted from its turning and we steered towards the Globe of the Moon My Soul perceived an unspeakable Pleasure to scud it in the Air and to wander in those vast Spaces she could only travel with the Eye before when united with the Body that minded me of a former Delight I had sometime â—asted in my Sleep in dreaming that I whipt through the Air without ever touching Ground above which I thought my self exalted many Yards We met upon the Road vast Troops of Separate Souls of all Nations Laplanders Finlanders Olaus mag l. 3. c. 17. Tert. de anima Brachmans and I then remembred what I had read in several Books That the Secret of separating the Soul and Body was known among those People But about fifty Leagues on this side that Planet there is a Region very well stock'd especially with Philosophers and those Stoicks for the generality And quite from that Place to my Arrival at the Globe of the Moon I descryed how swingingly History belies an infinite Number of Persons that it supposes dead like other Men though in truth they are no more Dead than M. Descartes himself I shall discourse with some of them as I go along The Moon has an Atmosphere like the Earth that by a moderate Computation may amount to three French Leagues in height As we were just ready to strike Sail we made a good Distance from us three Souls that held a very serious Conference together we judged they might be Souls of Consequence by the deference many others in their Retinue seemed to pay them Upon our enquiring who they were we understood they were Socrates Plato and Aristotle that were met in Consult for the Publick Interest for that being advised by certain News from our World That the Venetians had beaten the Turks not only out of Ancient Peloponesus but also the Famous City of Athens where heretofore these three Philosophers had made so great a Figure they had resolved in their Debate so soon as any Noble Venetian's Soul should arrive in these Quarters to petition her to recommend their Interest to General Morisini and the Republick's Consideration To require the replacing the Statues the Athenians had erected to them To re-establish the Academy and the Lyceum with all their Priviledges and to restore the Marbles in the Prytaneum whereon was engraven the Justification of Socrates with the Execrations charged on Anytus and Melitus his Accusers And in case they should push their Conquests as far as Macedonia to have as great regard for Stagyra at present Liba nova as Alexander the Great had formerly on the account of his Master Aristotle whose Country that was I am surprized says Father Mersennus to see these Philosophers I never heard any Mention of them here nor did I ever meet them in all my Travels It is true I have observed in my Commentaries upon Genesis That Plato and Trismegistus used to quit their Bodies the better to contemplate the Sovereign Good and that Socrates as Alcibiades relates in Plato had from Time to Time such sort of Extasies 'T is true also I never took Aristotle for so great a Fool as to throw himself headlong into Euripâ—s for the Madness and Despair of being unable to comprehend the Flux and Reflux of the Sea And many things I have read in that Philosopher induced me to suspect he knew the Mystery of Separation but I never thought to inform my self whether these Gentlemen made use of it to prevent their Dying You 'll see he added that as M. Descartes has determined to put the Project of his World in Execution that he framed while he lived on Earth so Plato will resolve upon the Undertaking that of his Republick which we shall see fix'd somewhere in those Vast and Desart Spaces above the Heavens where he will convoy a Colony of Separate Souls to constitute his Government That supposed said my old Gentleman Lucian had but ill Intelligence from the other World since in his Dialogues of the Dead he often talks of Socrates as a Man that had passed the Stygian-Lake in Caron's Boat and as an old Inhabitant of Hell Nouveaux Dial. deâ— Mor. But what Gentlemen said I do you say of our Modern Lucian I mean the Author of the New Dialogues of the Dead that without farther Ceremony places Monsieur Descartes in Hell and brings him on the Stage discoursing with the pretended Demetrius of Moscovy Is it reasonable to think That Author upon his entertaining us in that Work with some pretty Things and diverting us with an abundance of choice Historical Observations to think I say under that Shelter he had Right to put off all the Frolicks of his Imagination without any regard to Truth To place M. Descartes in Hell at the same Time he 's above the Heavens is not this to express my self in the Quodlibetique Style of our Fâ—iend M Aberrare toto Coâ—lo In the interim we saw the three Philosâ—phers advance towards us 'T is known they were three of the finest Gentlemen that have bore that Character in Antiquity and that they have always been distinguish'd from that Rascality of Sophists and Cynicks that generally were meer Andrewâ— and only purchased the Reputation of Sages at the Expence of the most abusive Extravagances Socrates made the Address and in a most obliging manner told us He easily perceived we were of France not only because we came that Road but also that he saw in us the Character and Genius of the Nation
awarded them unto him with an universal Consent He hath thought fit to declare himself on the first occasion and to intreat the Publick as also those Gentlemen the new Philosophers to do him Justice in that Particular He protests then to separate his Interest in many Articles from theirs that style themselves his Disciples He declares that in the Questions of the Schools many things go under his Name which are none of his as is for Instance that most Childish Notion of the Horror of a Vacuum That he himself hath certify'd and prov'd by Experience the Pressure of the Air which at this Day is made a Principle in the Physical Expilcation of such Phenomena's as have most alliance to the Question of a Vacuum That he is no ways the Father of an infinite little Beings introduc'd in the School Philosophy That his Writings have often been mis-interpreted and Men have commonly taken for Natural Beings what in his Idea were only Denominaâ—â—ions and Metaphysical Attributes This Calm continu'd he with which I speak after that ungovernable Obstinacy you formerly knew me guilty of might stand for my Credentials as to you in Aristotle's Absence But I will farther add that since you meet him out of the Globe of the Moon he hath dispatch'd an Express in which he gives orders that if you pass'd this way I should not fail to inform you of his Thoughts and Intentions and to let you know that whatever Warmth appear'd in him in his Discourse against Descartes he would notwithstanding gladly hearken to some Accommodation with him Furthermore this is no unpremeditated Resolution The Expedient has been form'd and written long ago and the Fault will not be ours if you do not see it and take upon you the presenting it to Descartes if you so think convenient We return'd we most joyfully accepted it and that we thought our selves happy any ways to contribute to the Reconciliation of the two greatest Philosophers the World has known and the Reunion of two Parties that were at present the only considerable in Europe He took forthwith out of a Cabinet that was at the end of the Hall and where upon handsom Shelves stood a good sight of Books excellently bound and that look'd exactly like Books the new Philosophers have compos'd within this thirty or forty Years and that Aristotle and Voetius had undoubtedly read he took I say from a Cabinet a kind of Memoirs with this Title in Latin Words De Consensu Philosophiae Veteris Novae We have said I an Ingenious Man of our Woâ—ld that has wrote a Book with the same Inscription M. Du Haâ—el I my self have read it he replyed and a Man may easily see by the way it is wrote in the Author is well vers'd in all parts of Philosophy He is a Gentleman unbiassed as to one side or other is throughly acquainted with the Interests of each Party and therefore the fittest Person that I know to mediate in that Affair A preliminary Point is taken from his Preface which is much in the right on 't and whereto Aristotle and Descartes must forthwith accord that the Sect-Leaders of Philophy Neque omnia neque nihil viderunt With that he presented us the Project of Accommodation and desired us to read it at our leisure in our Voyage as also to take with us as we had offered at our Arrival some Aristotelian Souls to accompany us to Descartes's Place of Residence to the end he might know by them what that Philosopher had resolv'd upon the Propositions laid down in that Treaty We thanked him for the Honour he did us in intrusting us with so Important a Negotiation assured him we would do all that lay in us towards the facilitating its Success and after much Expression and Acknowledgment of his Civilities we beg'd his leave we might persue our Voyage since we had a vast way still to go and had spent many Hours in that we had pass'd already He conducted us out of the Lyceum and giving some Instructions to two Souls of the Country that seem'd Spirits of Note and Fashion ordered them to wait on us so made his Conge Designing to run over that whole Hemisphere of the Moon that is oppos'd to our Earth we kept on our Road to the North and leaving Democritus on the left we pass'd through Thales and drove on quite to Zoroaster from whence we made a double towards the West through desert Lands where we saw the ruins of some ancient Towns as of Atlas Cepheus Hermes without meeting Man Woman or Child till we came to the Lake of Dreams on whose Banks we found three separate Spirits with whom we were taken up one Moment in Discourse as we passed along We surprized the two first stoutly Cursing and Banning their Wives they had formerly in the World One of which was that Hermotimus mention'd by Tertullian and Pliny who leaving his Body abed to make a Ramble as his Custom was his Wife that did not love him slipt not the opportunity of calling up her Servants to whom she shewed not without tearing her Hair and playing the Mad-woman the Body of her Husband unsoul'd and breathless and carried the Humour on so well that the Body was burnt according to the custom of the Country before the Soul return'd who was from thenceforth forced to seek another Habitation The other Spirit was a Roman Senator whose Name was Lamia whose Wife had trickt out of the World by the same Project though a little more it had miscarried For as he related it The Soul being retâ—rned to look its Body where 't was left not finding it and seeing the Family Mourning begun to smell how the Matter stood It Posted presently to the place where was built the Funeral Pile to burn the Body and arriv'd there just as the Fire began to seize it The Soul thought it inconvenient to reunite her self with it for fear it might be obliged to be burnt alive she only mov'd its Tongue so as many of the Standers by heard these Words twice distinctly repeated I am not dead I am not dead But seeing the Masters of the Funeral Ceremonies who had undoubtedly received an Item from the Dame unconcerned as ' ere she left it to be burnt and came to fix in the Globe of the Moon The third whom we found two Leagues farther in a ghastly Grot was the famous Iohn Duns Scotus commonly called Scot or the Subtil Doctor He has pass'd for a dead Man unto this day on which Account some have given out most ridiculous Stories and highly disadvantagious to the Reputation of so worthy a Person and which have still been well confuted But the truth is that he is not dead and that having by the subtilty of his Mind found out the Secret so many others have procured his Corps was taken for dead and was buried in the absence of his Soul which took Sanctuary in the Globe of the Moon He was incompass'd by a Croud of
Descartes to take care to avoid the like Misfortune I believed said he the World was from all Eternity upon a false Principle I suffered my self to pre-possessed with to wit That God was a necessary Being in his Actions as well as in his Existence You have one also of which the self same Error is the necessary Consequence And I am not the first that has put you in mind of it You not only affirm That the Essence of Matter consists in Extension but farther That Matter Extension and Space are but three different Names of one and the same Thing From whence with you it follows That wherever we conceive Extension and Space there must necessarily be Matter And from thence you conclude the World is boundless and infinite or as you choose to speak indefinite in Extension Your Adversaries of the Terrestrial World have indeavoured to demonstrate That bottoming on those same Principles the World and Matter must always have been and that Matter must necessarily continue always For as there is Matter at present where we conceive at present Space and Extension so by the same Reason there always has been and ever will be Matter where we conceive there ever has been and ever will be Space and Extension But we conceive that there always has been and that there always will be Space and Extension where the World at present stands This is a nice Point and might justifie the Conduct of the Doctors and Magistrates of Vtrecht on your Respect Betwixt our selves continu'd he the reasoning that bewildered you in that unextricable Maze is a meer Sophism A real Attribute say you cannot comport with nothing Now to be extended is a real Attribute it cannot therefore agree with nothing It agrees notwithstanding with Space and with what we imagine above the Firmament and call by the Name of Space Therefore that which is above the Firmament is real Therefore that which is in the Indefinite above the Firmament is Matter Therefore Matter Extension and Space are the self-same thing You ought to have apprehended the defect of that Reasoning from two Respects First from the Consequence that is taken from thence concluding for the Eternity of the World and which voluntarily offers it self to the Mind Secondly that supposing it false as indeed it is that the World should be Eternal they 'l demonstrate to you by an Argument exactly like yours that another Attribute no less real than thaâ— you term so comports with nothing For if the World is not Eternal it is plain a Man may truly say that nothing is Eternal since excepting God there has Nothing been from all Eternity Now to be Eternal is methinks as real an Attribute as to be extended But as it is a manifest Absurdity to affirm a real Attribute can accord with nothing it is necessary to reconcile it all that you agree with your Adversaries that those Words Extended and Eternal when attributed to Nothing and to Space make in our Minds quite contrary Ideas to what we have upon our attributing them to a Being or a Body When we attribute them to a Being or a Body they signifie something Positive when we attribute them to Nothing and to Space they give a Negative signification In a Word when 't is said nothing is Eternal no more is meant than that there has been no Being created from all Eternity And when 't is said There is only an extended Space beyond the Firmament it is understood there is no Body there and that there may be one to fill up that Void and nothing of a Body which we there conceive We cannot speak of Nothing and of Space but we must speak Something of them We cannot express what we think of them but by the Terms in use Those Terms are the same we imploy to speak of Beings But if we make Reflection on the Ideas we shall see they are wholly different nor are they ruin'd and destroy'd by one another as is pretended This puts me in Mind of a little Instance subtil enough upon this Subject which formerly Dr. Mâ—re an English Gentleman gave you he whose Elogies went so far as to apply to you what Horacâ— said of Homer Qui nil molitur inepte He propos'd this Question to you Suppose that God should destroy the World and reproduce it a little after might not it be said there would be or at least that we conceive there would be some Interval between the Destruction and Reproduction of the World although nothing of real interceeded betwixt them both From whence he proceeded to conclude That supposing in a Chamber God should annihilate all the Bodies that are between the Walls there would yet be Length Breadth and Depth although at the same time there was nothing real there He thought to have foil'd you supposing you would readily have assented to his first Proposition of which there seem'd no Doubt or Scruple But I am persuaded he found himself well enough Match'd when you deny'd him that we could conceive in his Hypothesis any Duration or Interval between the Destruction and new Production of the World The Author of a Letter wrote some years ago to a Cartesian Philosopher afforded the Reader Sport and Diversion enough upon that Point by several very pretty Hypotheses which he offers But as I am not given to Trifles and 't is unbefitting a Philosopher of my Character to be merry I shall only make use of your own Principles I 'll take that Hypothesis that supposes the Air in a Chamber to be destroy'd by God without any admittance or production of another Body there That Hypothesis once receiv'd makes it manifest That Extension may be conceiv'd without a Body and by Consequence that the Essence of Matter consists not in Extension You will not admit of this Hypothesis But I am going to shew that it implies no Contradiction by a reasoning much like one of those you make use of in another Case and take for Demonstration For according to you seeing I distinctly conceive a thing that thinks not conceiving Extension and because I distinctly conceive Extension not concerning a thing that thinks I have good Grounds for my Conclusion that a thing which thinks is distinguish'd from Extension and that Extension is distinguish'd from a thing that thinks Thus it is you demonstrate the distinction of the Body and Soul and thus it is evident one may exist without the other with-a Contradiction and that from this grand Maxim That the difference of Ideas is the only means we have of knowing the real distinction of Things and their Independence upon one another Upon that Principle thus I argue I most distinctly conceive the Destruction or Annihilation of a Body without conceiving the production of another Body Therefore it is no Contradiction a Body should be destroy'd without another Body's Production Therefore it is no Contradiction the Air betwixt the four Walls of a Chamber should be destroy'd and yet no other Body produc'd in its
Submission and respect I am capable of that I am with all my Heart and Soul MONSIEUR Your most humble and most obedient Servant and most zealous Disciple The INDEX PART I. THE different Relations given of the World of Cartesius Page 1 The Conversation of the Author with an old Cartesian and the occasion of his Voyage to the World of Cartesius 5 Cartesius his Design of finding out the Secret of the Soul and Body's Vnion as also that of separating and reuniting them when he pleas'd 9 Cartesius his Progress in the Study and Knowledge of Man 10 The Mystery of the union and separation of the Soul and Body found out by Cartesius 16 The use of the Mystery 19 That Cartesius is not dead 25 The Secret of the union and separation of the Body and Soul known long before Cartesius 30 Cartesius retires into the indefinite Spaces and makes preparation for the building of a World there like this of ours 31 The Author is invited by the old Cartesian and the Spirit of Father Mersennus to come to the building of Cartesius his World 37 The Author's discourse with the Soul of Father Mersennus 39 An Explication of the manner of the Apparition of Spirits 42 The adventure of a little Moor-Page to Regius Physitian of Utrecht formerly a Friend but afterwards an Enemy of Cartesius 45 The Author's Soul is separated from his Body by the secret of Cartesius 51 How according to the Principles of Cartesius all Bodily Operations may be perform'd as well in the absence as presence of the Soul 53 PART II. THE setting out of the Author with the old Cartesian and Father Mersennus for the World of Cartesius 56 What the Air is and of what parts it is compos'd 57 Wherein consists the fluidity of liquid Bodies ibid. Motion naturally and of it self is perpetual 61 The falsity of Cartesius's Axiom that there is ever an equal quantity of Motion in the World taking the word Motion according to Cartesius's definition 62 The way that Spirits converse with one another 67 The Travellers meet upon their Road Socrates Plato and Aristotle and upon what occasion 68 Their discourse with those Philosophers with some notable Particulars of their History 71 Aristotle refutes Cartesius his Method and Meditations 79 The old Cartesian and Father Mersennus railly upon the Sphere of Fire that Aristotle imagin'd 86 The Contradictions of Cartesius 89 His Disciples have indeavour'd to smother one of them in the French Translation of his Works 90 A Suit commenc'd formerly against the Cartesians relating to the Sphere of Fire 94 A description of the Globe of the Moon 97 Cyrano de Bergerac banter'd by Socrates his familiar Spirit in the Globe of the Moon 98 The inequalities observ'd in the Moon are partly Seas and partly Lands shar'd among the most famous Mathematicians and Philosophers as they are to be seen in the Maps of that Country ibid. The Traveller's descent into Gassendus and from thence to Mersennus 99 They Traverse the Hemisphere of the Moon that is opposite to our Earth 100 They are deny'd Admission at Plato and why 101 They arrive at Aristotle which they find strictly gâ—â—rded as a Town under Apprehensions of a Siege 102 The Author finds there and knows again his Regent in Philosophy an old Professâ—r of the Vniversity of Paris 103 A Description of the Lyceum of the Moon 105 The old Cartesian likewise remembers Voetius the greatest Enemy Cartesius had in Holland 108 Some particulars of the Life of Cartesius and his Adventures whilst he staid in Holland 109 The Character of Voetius 112 The Travellers Negotiation with Voetius for the re-union of the Peripateticks and Cartesians 119 A Project of Accommodation presented the Travellers by Voetius 122 They continue their Voyage with two Peripatetick-Souls that Voetius had deputed to accompany them to the World of Cartesius ibid. In their Way they light upon the Souls of Hermotimus and Ainia a Roman Pretor and Duns Scotus 123 c. The Dispute of the Peripatetick Souls with Father Mersennus and the old Cartesian concerning absolute Accidents 127 Cartesius his Explication of the Mystery of the Eucharist not Catholick 130 They meet with Cardan in the Globe of the Moon in the Peninsula of Dreams the reason of his Melancholy 132 The Travellers return to Mersennus 133 Their reading the Project of Accommodation given them by Voetius containing a Confutation of a great part of the Cartesian Philosophy 134 Cartesius's Demonstrations of the Existence of a God refuted by a Mandarin of China 158 The Arrival of the Voyagers to the World of Cartesius 172 PART III. CArtesius his Reception of the Travellers 174 The Discourse of the Author with Cartesius concerning the present State and Condition of the Cartesian Philosophy in our World 174 c. Cartesius his Thoughts of that famous Experiment of the Gravity of the Air said to be M. Paschal's whereof Cartesius pretends to be the Author 181 His Sentiments formerly of the Book of Conick Sections said to be wrote by M. Paschal at sixteen Years of Age 182 The Extravagant Praises of M. Paschal's Panegyrists and of the Preface to the Book concerning the equilibration of Liquors 185 Cartesius his Projects for propagating his Philosophy whilst he was in our World 190 How he designed to get the Iesuits on his Side and then the Fathers of the Oratory and M. Arnauld ibid. Decrees of the Congregation of the Oratory against Cartesianism and Jansenism 193 The great Contest betwixt Malbranche Father of the Oratory and M. Arnauld The Character of the former 196 M. Arnanld compar'd with Admiral de Chatillon 201 Cartesius builds his World before the Travellers and as he builds it explains to them the chiefest Points of his System 207 The Confusion of Aristotle's Embassadors 221 The Return of the Travellers and Arrival to our World 238 In what Condition the Author's Soul found his Body she is seated in quality of a Cartesian Soul upon the Pineal Gland of his Brain 239 PART IV. THE Zeal of the Author converted to Cartesianism to promote the Sect and which he expresses in a Letter he wrote to Cartesius after his Return 242 He is much perplexed by the Ingenious Peripateticks 243 The Ordinary Arguments against Cartesius his System propos'd and refuted 244 The Author sometimes sides with Cartesius to refute him more easily 246 Motion of Matter seems not impossible in the Cartesian System 248 A new Method of proving it possible 250 Other Difficulties drawn from Cartesius his own Principles proposed by the Peripateticks to the Author whose solution he desires of Cartesius 259 The first Argument That by the Principles of Cartesius the Sun and Stars may be prov'd opaque Bodies as are the Planets of the Earth 260 Argument 2. That by Cartesius his Principles we could not see the Stars nor the Sun it self 265 Argument 3. That Cartesius his Principles supposed it is impossible for the Earth to have a particular Vortex in the great Vortex of the Sun 276 The Consequence of the preceeding Demonstration in Astronomy and Physicks The Moon could no longer turn about the Earth nor the Satellites of Jupiter about him 287 Heavy Bodies would not descend to the Centre of the Earth but would fall towards the Sun ibid. There would be no flux or reflux of the Sea 289 The General Principle of all the Physical Effects of the lower World quite over-turned 291 Cartesius his Inconstancy concerning the Properties of his Elements 293 The Physical Arguments that are weak against Copernicus touching the Motion of the Earth are strong against the Cartesians 294 Propositions of very great importance in Physicks advanced without Proof and supposed against all Reason by Cartesius 296 The Author importunes Cartesius to send him the Solution of all these Difficulties 297 The END