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
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
without the Memory be present to it to offer and represent to it the Figures and Species according to the Saying of Aristotle He that understands has no more to do but to reflect on the Images Nor the Memory again without being seconded by the Imagination according as we have elsewhere noted we may easily conclude that all the three Faculties are joined and united together in each Ventricle that the Understanding is not by it self in one nor the Memory by it self in the other nor the Imagination by its self in the third as the Vulgar Philosophers have thought This Union of Powers and Virtues uses to be made in Humane Bodies when one cannot act without the Concurrence of the other as appears in the four Natural Virtues The Attractive the Retentive Digestive and Expulsive which to be of use one to the other have by Nature been assembled in one and the same Place and not separated from each other But if all this be true to what end has Nature prepared those three Ventricles and to each of them joined all the three Rational Powers since any one of the three was sufficient for the Understanding and the Memory to play their parts To this may be answered That it is equally difficult to know why Nature has made two Eyes and as many Ears since in each of them the whole power of Seeing and Hearing resides and one may see with one Eye alone To this it may be said That how much greater the Number of Organs of the Powers appointed and established for the Perfection of the Animal is so much more assured is the Perfection and Possession of them because by some Accident one or two may fail and then it is convenient that there should be a Supply from others of the same kind which may be ready to Act. In the Disease call'd by Physicians the Resolution of the Sinews or Palsy of half the Body the Operation of the Ventricle that answers to the Sick-side is usually lost in such manner as if the two others remained not entire and unhurt the Man would be stupid without Reason And nevertheless from the want of this Ventricle alone he is observed to be very weak as well in the Actions of the Understanding as of the Imagination and Memory Even as he who uses to See with two Eyes would be at a loss in his Sight if one of them was quite out By which means it may be clearly understood that in each Ventricle all the three Faculties are found since from the hurt of one alone the other three are all weakned Say now that all the three Ventricles are composed after the same manner and that there is no Diversity of Parts to be found in them we cannot be at a loss if we take the first Qualities for the Instrument and so make as many differences of Wit as there be of the first Qualities For it is against all Natural Philosophy to believe that the Rational Soul being in the Body can exercise her Operations without the Mediation of a Corporeal Instrument to assist her But of the four Qualities that appear the Heat Cold Moisture and Driness all Physicians reject the Cold as of no use at all in the Operations of the Rational Soul And accordingly it is observed by Experience in all the other Powers of Man that where the Cold overballances the Heat they are blunted and retarded in their Offices insomuch as neither the Stomach digests the Meat nor the Parts of Generation produce effective Seed nor the Muscles duly move the Body nor the Brain duly Reasons and Discourses For which reason Galen said The Cold manifestly incommodes and retards all the Operations of the Soul Serving only in the Body to allay the Natural Heat and to hinder it from being inflamed But Aristotle is of a contrary Opinion where he says The thick and hot Blood renders the Man strong and robust and the thinner and more Cold of a more delicate Sense and Vnderstanding Whence it clearly appears that from Cold proceeds the greatest difference of Wit in Man viz. the Understanding Aristotle therefore enquiring why the Men inhabiting hotter Countries as Aegypt is are more Subtile and Ingenious than those who live in colder Climates makes Answer That the Ambient Heat being excessive draws forth and consumes the Natural Heat of the Brain leaving it cold which makes Men more sharp And that on the contrary the great Ambient Cold concentrates the Natural Heat of the Brain not suffering it to disperse And further they who have very hot Brains says he can neither Reason nor Discourse but are Volatile never fixing on one Opinion Galen as it seems alluded to this where he says the reason why a Man changes his Opinion every moment is because he had a very hot Brain and on the contrary he that has a cold Brain will be firm and steady in his Opinion But the Truth is there is no difference of Wit proceeds from this Quality neither could Aristotle mean that the Blood cold in excess made the Understanding better but only when it is less hot When a Man is fickle it is true it proceeds from too great a Heat that raises transient Figures in his Brain making them as it were to boil by which means the Images of many things represent themselves at once to the Rational Soul awakening and inviting it to a Consideration of them and to enjoy all she leaves some and Embraces others The quite contrary happens in Cold which renders a Man fixt and stable in an Opinion because it keeps the Figures fast locked up not permitting them to fly so fast so that it represents no other Image to a Man but what is called for Cold has this Peculiar that it retards the Motions not only of Corporeal things but also renders the Figures and the Species by Philosophers termed Intellectual immovable in the Brain but this firmness seems rather to be a certain Dulness than a Difference of Wit There is another kind of Steadiness which proceeds from the Understanding being closer and more compact and not from any coldness of Brain Driness then Moisture and Heat remain as Instruments of the Rational Faculty But not one Philosopher knew how to assign in particular to each Difference of Wit the Quality that serv'd it for an Instrument Heraclitus said That the sharpness of Wit was from a dry Light By which words he gives us to undestand that Driness is the cause of the great Prudence and Wisdom in Man but he has not shewn in what kind of Knowledge a Man was Excellent by means of this Quality Plato intended no less when he affirm'd That the Soul upon its entring the Body was very Wise but that the great Moisture it met there render'd it lumpish and dull till as that Moisture wears off in Age and the Body becomes drier the Soul discovers that Knowledge and Wisdom it had at first Among Brute Beasts Aristotle said those are more
deliberate whose Constitution is more cold and dry as the Ants and Bees who may dispute for Wisdom with Men that are Reasonable Creatures Besides there is not a Brute Beast more moist than a Hog and which has less Wit For which cause the Poet Pindar being to tax the Boeotians for Blockheads exprest himself in this manner Dicta fuit Sus gens Boeotia Vecors Stupid Boeotians wore the Name Of Hogs their Nature was the same Galen affirm'd also That the Blood by reason of its too great moisture made Men silly And the same Galen recounts that the Comic Poets accused Hippocrates's Children of it alledging they had too much Natural Heat which is a moist Substance and abounding with Vapours The Children of Wise Men are not without this Defect of which I may hereafter assign the Reason Of the four Humors we have there is not one of them found hot and dry but melancholy And Aristotle affirms That all the Men that ever signaliz'd themselves in the Sciences were Melancholic In fine all agree that Driness makes a Man very Wise but no Man shews which of the Rational Faculties it most favours The Prophet Esay only determined it when he said Vexation gives Vnderstanding because Sorrow and Affliction not only lick up that moisture of the Brain but have also Power to dry up the very Bones by which Quality the Understanding is made more sharp and acute which may be apparently evidenced by considering that many Men reduc'd to Poverty and Misery have happen'd to Speak and Write things worthy of Admiration but being afterwards raised by Fortune according to their Wish to make good Cheer have done nothing more of Importance For a delicate Life Content a stream of Fortune and all things succeeding smoothly to our Wish much relax and moisten the Brain which is what Hippocrates said Content and Chearfulness enlarge and dilate the Heart giving it a sweet and gross Heat Which is again easily proved for if Affliction and Grief dry up and consume the Flesh by which means a Man acquires a better Understanding it is certain that the contrary which is Chearfulness fails not to moisten the Brain and impair the Understanding They who attain the last sort of Wit are more immediately disposed to Sports Feasts Music frequenting merry Company and flying the contrary which at other times were wont to give them Relish and Content Hence may the Vulgar learn how it comes that a Wise and Virtuous Man raised to great Honour who before was Poor and Humble sometimes immediately changes his Manners and his way of Reasoning for this proceeds from his acquiring a new Temperament moist and full of Vapors by which means he effaces the Figures he had before in his Memory rendering his Understanding Dull and Sluggish 'T is very difficult to know what Difference of Wit proceeds from moisture because it so strongly contradicts the Rational Faculty At least according to Galen's Opinion all the Humours of our Body that are moist in Excess render the Man Stupid and Ignorant which occasion'd him to say The Prudence and Nimbleness of the Rational Soul arises from Choler Integrity and Constancy proceed from the Melancholic Humour Simplicity and Stupidity from Blood Phlegm or Water serving for nothing but to feed sleep Insomuch that the Blood so far as it is moist and the Phlegm no less conspire to ruin and destroy the Rational Faculty but this is to be understood of the discursive and active Faculties and not of the passive as the Memory is which depends on moisture even as the Understanding does on driness Now we call the Memory a Rational Faculty because without it the Understanding and Imagination are of no use It affords them matter and furnishes them with Figures to Reason according to that of Aristotle He that understands does no more than reflect on the Images And the proper Office of the Memory is to lay up those Figures for the Understanding when it would reflect on them and therefore if that be lost it is impossible for the other Faculties to perform their Function Galen says the Office of the Memory is no other than to keep the Figures of things without having any Invention of its own The Memory treasures and lays up the things which are transmitted from the Sense and Vnderstanding as in a Coffer or Repository having no Invention of its own This being its Office one may clearly perceive it depends much on moisture which softens and prepares the Brain for the Figures that are imprinted by way of Compression Infancy is an evident Proof of this Doctrin seeing in that Age the Memory is readier than in all the other because the Brain then is moistest Aristotle therefore demands Why the Old have more Wit and a better Vnderstanding and the Young learn readier and with more ease To which he makes Answer That the Memory of Old People is filled with so many Images of things which they have seen and heard during the long course of their Life that there is no room left to receive any thing new but that of Young People as Persons late Born meets with no difficulty therein which makes them receive and retain immediately all that is told and taught them Which may be better understood by compairing the morning and evening Memory and shewing that we learn better in the morning because we then rise with a fresh Memory but in the evening we learn ill because it is stuffed with all the Objects of the Day past And to the end the curious Reader may not be surprized that so great a Philosopher as Aristotle should never light upon a true Answer and which even those of less Wit than himself sometimes find and form better Arguments than his he must know that Plato not at all doubting but the Gravest Philosophers do often as men mistake either through Inadvertence or for want of Weighing and being well enough acquainted with all the Principles contained in the Doctrin they teach advises such as read his Works to consider them with great care and not to rely too much upon him or on the good Opinion they have conceived of them To examin says he and cautiously weigh all his Words and those of the Philosophers and not to receive them before they have made some Proof of them no though they may seem the truest in the World Because in effect it would be a great shame to me that Nature having given me Eyes to See and an Understanding to Distinguish yet I should ask Aristotle and the other Philosophers what are the Figures and Colours of things and what Being and Nature they have Open your Eyes says Plato make use of your own Wit and Ability and fear nothing for the same He that made Aristotle made you also and he who formed so great a Wit may very well also form a greater 'T is nevertheless very Reasonable to have Excellent Authors in great Veneration
Difficulty against this Doctrin namely seeing God knew all the Wits and Ability in Israel and was well aware that the Temperate Men are possessed of that Prudence and Wisdom of which the Royal Office stands in need for what cause in the first Election that was made God sought not out such a Man as this For even the Text says that Saul was so tall of Stature as he exceeded all the people of Israel by the Head and Shoulders This is an ill sign of Wit not only in Natural Philosophy but God himself as he has pleased to shew us blamed Samuel for having an Eye to the great Stature of Eliab and his forwardness to Anoint him for King But this Doubt sufficiently informs us what Galen has said is true that out of Greece it is a folly to look for a Temperate Man seeing in so great a People as that of Israel God could not find one to choose for King but waited till David was grown up and in the mean while made choice of Saul seeing that as the Text says he was the best of all Israel tho' it seems he had more good nature than Wisdom and that alone was not sufficient to Rule and Govern Teach me goodness discipline and Knowledge says the Royal Prophet David being very sensible that it is to no purpose for a King to be Good and Virtuous if he be not withal at the same time Prudent and Wise It looks as if we had sufficiently confirmed our Opinion in this instance of King David but there arose also another King in Israel of whom it was said Where is he that is born King of the Jews And if we can prove that he was red-Haired well fashioned of middle Stature Virtuous Sound and of great Wisdom and Knowledge it will be no disadvantage to our Cause The Evangelists busy not themselves to relate the Composition of our Lord because it no way conduced to the subject they treated of but the same is a matter very easy to be understood supposing that an exact Temperament is all the Perfection a Man can naturally have and seeing it was the Holy Ghost that formed and Organized him it is certain that as touching the material Cause of which he form'd him it was not the Ill Temperament of Nazareth that could resist him nor cause him to erre in his work as it fares with Natural Agents but that he did what best pleased him because he wanted neither Power Knowledge nor Will to frame a Man most Perfect and without any Defect And the rather for that his Coming as he himself affirms was to endure Travels for Man and to teach him the Truth But this Temperament as we have prov'd before was the best Natural Instrument to effect these two things And therefore I hold for true the Relation that Publius Lentulus the Proconsul writ from Jerusalem to the Senate at Rome after this manner There has been seen in our Time a Man who yet lives of great Virtue call'd Jesus Christ who by the Gentiles is termed the Prophet of Truth and his Disciples say that he is the Son of God He raises the Dead and heals the Sick He is a Man of a middle proportionable Stature and of a very fair Countenance His Look carries such Majesty as procures at once both Love and Respect from all his Beholders His Hair down to his Ears is of the Colour of a Nut full ripe and from his Ears to his Shoulders of the Colour of Wax but brighter He has in the middle of his Forehead a little Lock after the manner of the Nazarens His Forehead is Plain but very Serene His Face without Spot or Wrinkle and of a moderate Colour His Nose and Mouth are not with any reason to be blamed His Beard thick and resembling his Hair not long but forked His Aspect is Gracious and Grave and his Eyes graceful and clear He is Awful in his Reproofs and Charming in his Admonitions He forces Love He is chearful with Gravity He is never seen to Laugh but Weep often He has elegant Hands and Arms In Conversation he is very pleasing but is seldom in Company and when he is very Modest In his Countenance and Mien the loveliest Man that can be imagined In this Relation are comprised three or four Marks of a Temperate Man The first that he had his Hair and Beard of the Colour of a Nut full ripe which if well considered is a brown Abourn which Colour God commanded the Heifer should have that was to be sacrificed in Figure of Jesus Christ And when he Ascended up into Heaven with the Triumph and Majesty due to such a Prince some of the Angels that knew nothing of his Incarnation ask'd Who is this that comes from Edom with his Garments died Red from Bosra As if they had said Who is this that comes from the Red-Land with his Garments died Red with regard to his Hair and Beard and to the Blood he was stained with The Letter also reports him the fairest Man that ever was seen which is the second Mark of a temperate Man Accordingly by this Mark Holy Scripture has distinguish'd him Goodly of Beauty among the Sons of Men and elsewhere it is said That his Eyes shall be Red with Wine and his Teeth White with Milk Which Beauty and Comely Shape of Body was of no small importance to engage the whole World to Love him because there was nothing Terrible about him And so the Letter says That every one was enclined to Love him It reports also That he was of middle Stature not that the Holy Ghost wanted Matter to make him greater if he had so pleased but because in over-charging the Rational Soul with Bones and Flesh the Wit is oppressed as we have prov'd before from the Opinion of Plato and Aristotle The third Mark namely to be Virtuous and of good Conditions is confirmed also from the same Relation and the Jews with all their false Witnesses could never prove the contrary nor answer him when he ask'd them Which of you can reprove me of Sin And Josephus from the credit of his History assures us that he seemed to be more than Man considering his great Goodness and Wisdom There is only long Life that is not verified of our Saviour Jesus Christ because they put him to Death so Young But if the Course of Nature had not been interruptted he might have lived above fourscore Years For it is very probable that he who could live in a Desart fourty Days and fourty Nights without Eating or Drinking and neither be Sick nor Die with it might better have preserv'd himself free from other slighter Accidents that might alter and impair his Temperament Howbeit this Action was reputed a Miracle and a thing that could not happen in the Compass of Nature These two Examples of Kings which we have alledged are sufficient to give to Understand that the Royal Scepter is due
sowed in a Lake Hippocrates advises such a Woman to lessen her self and take down her Fat and her Flesh before she Marry but then she need not take a Husband hot and dry for such a Temperament would not do nor can she conceive A Woman cold and moist in the second Degree retains a Mean in all the Marks we have mentioned Beauty excepted which she has in excess which is an evident Sign that she will be fruitful and bear Children and prove gay and of a good Grace Such a Woman answers in proportion well near to all Men first to the hot and dry in the second Degree next to the Temperate and then to those that are hot and moist Of all these Combinations and Matches of Men and Women which we have noted wise Children may proceed but more ordinarily from the first for put case that the Man's Seed incline to cold and moist yet the continual Dryness of the Mother and giving her little nourishment corrects and amends the defect of the Father Because this kind of Philosophy has not yet come to light all the natural Philosophers have not been able to answer the Problem that demands Why many Fools have got wise Children To which they Answer That those unthinking Fellows apply themselves passionately to the Venereal Act without engaging in any other consideration but that wise Men on the contrary in the very Embraces are musing upon Matters impertinent to the present Point Whereby they enfeeble their Seed and beget defective Children as well in what respects the rational Powers as in those that are purely Natural But this Answer proceeds from People little skill'd in natural Philosophy In the other Unions care should be taken that the Woman lose her Fat and grow sparer by a ripe Age and Marry not too young for thence arise half Witted and Foolish Children The Seed of young Parents is very moist for it is but a while since they were Born and if a Man be formed of Matter moist in Excess he will of course be a Blockhead Article III. What Considerations to be used to get Boys and not Girls THE Parents that are in quest of the Joy of Wise Children and towardly for Learning should endeavour to have Boys for Girls in respect of the Coldness and Moisture of their Sex can never arrive at a profound Judgment Ony we see they speak with a show of Ability in slight and easy Matters with ordinary Terms though studied But being set to Learning they learn no farther than a little Latin and that because it is a work of the Memory Which Incapacity is not to be charged on them but on the Cold and Moist that made them Women being the Qualities as we have already proved absolutely contrary to Wit and Ability Solomon in Consideration of the great Scarcity of wise Men and that there was not so much as one Woman furnished with Wit and Knowledge speaks thus One Man says he among a Thousand have I found but a Woman among all those have I not found Therefore we are to shun them and apply our Endeavours to get Males since in these alone appears a Wit capable of Learning In which we are first of all to consider what Instruments are ordained by Nature in Man's Body to this End and what Order of Causes is to be observ'd to attain the End we propose You are to know then that amongst many Excrements and Humours that are in a Man's Body Galen says that Nature makes use but of One to prevent the Species of Men being lost Which is a certain Excrement called Serum or Serous Blood generated in the Liver and Veins at the Instant the four Humours Blood Flegm Choler and Melancholy receive what Form and Substance they ought to have Of such a Juice as this Nature makes use for a Vehicle of Food and to transmit it thro' the Veins and narrow Passages to carry Nourishment to all Parts of the Body which Work being done the same Nature has given to us two Reins which have no other Office than to attract to themselves this Serous Humour and make it descend thro' their Passages down into the Bladder and thence out of the Body and this to free Man from the Anoyance that Excrements give him But in Consideration of certain Qualities he has convenient for Generation she has provided us with two Veins to carry part to the Testicles and Spermatic Vessels with a little Blood whence she frames the Seed such as is convenient for our Species accordingly she has planted one Vein on the Right Rein side which terminates in the Rim of the right Testicle and of that same the right Spermatic Vessel is framed The other Vein issues out of the left Rein and terminates in the left Testicle and of that is framed the left Spermatic Vein What Qualities this Excrement has to make convenient Matter for generating of Seed the same Galen has noted that they are certain Acrids and Acids that spring from a Salt which irritates the Spermatic Vessels and strongly moves the Animal without delay to the Work of Generation and therefore lascivious Men are termed in Latin Salaces as much as to say Men that have much Salt in their Seed Besides this Nature has done another thing worthy of Consideration namely that to the right Vein and Testicle she has given much Heat and Dryness and to the left Rein and Testicle much Cold and Moisture so that the Seed prepared by the right Testicle is very hot and dry and that by the left cold and moist What Nature pretends to in this Diversity of Temperaments as well in the Reins as Testicles and Spermatic Vessels is very clear since we are informed by very credible Histories that at the beginning of the World and many Years after the Women were brought to Bed of two Children at a Birth one a Boy and the other a Girl to the end that each Man might have a Wife and each Woman a Husband for the speedier Encrease of Mankind For this Reason then has Nature provided that the right Rein should furnish matter hot and dry to the right Testicle and that the same with its great Heat and Dryness might produce hot and dry Seed for the generating a Male. And the contrary she has ordered for the Formation of the Female that the left Rein should send forth cold and moist Seed to the left Testicle that the same with its Coldness and Moisture might make cold and moist Seed from which a Girl would necessarily be got and not a Boy But after the World was once well Peopled it seems as if Nature had broke off this Order of this double Child-bearing and what is worse for one Boy there are no less than six or seven Girls ordinarily Born from which it may be understood either that Nature is tired out or that some Errour hinders her from acting as she would What the same is we may hereafter declare when we
by the Woman else her Seed being ill tempered impedes Generation Therefore it is convenient that they should both wait that both their Seeds may meet and mingle Which is of great importance for the first Effort because the right Testicle and it's Spermatic Vessel in the Opinion of Galen is that which first provokes and emits it's Seed sooner than the Left and if the Generation be not the first Time it is odds the second may give a Girl and not a Boy These two Seeds are known First by the Heat and Cold Secondly by the great or little Quantity Thirdly in this that one issues readier than to'ther The Seed of the right Testicle passes very tickling and is so Hot that it burns the Woman's Matrix is not much in Quantity and passes in hast On the contrary the Seed of the left Testicle is more temperate in greater Quantity and longer in Issuing being Cold and Thick The last Condition was to procure that the Seed of both should fall on the right side of the Matrix because in that place says Hippocrates the Males are form'd as the Females on the left Galen assigns the Reason hereof saying that the right side of the Matrix is very hot because of its neighbourhood to the Liver Reigns and spermatic Vessels that are on the right side which parts we have affirmed and prov'd to be very hot And since all the reason to order that a Boy may be begot consists in this that it have a great deal of heat in the time of its conception it is certain it much imports that the Seed fall in this place Which the Woman can easily do lying upon her right side after her Husbands embraces with her Head low and her Feet raised But she must keep her Bed a day or two because the Matrix embraces not the Seed but after some time The Signs of knowing whether a Woman be with Child or no are clear and manifest to all for if when she stands up the Seed fall presently down Galen says she has not conceived Therefore in this there is one thing to be considered that all the Seed is not fruitful and prolific for part thereof is waterish whose office is to dilute the principal Seed that it may pierce the narrow Passages And this is that which Nature emits and it remains after conception with the prolific part It is known when it is like Water and in little quantity To stand upon her Legs immediately after Coupling is very dangerous And therefore Aristotle advises that she beforehand evacuate her Excrements and Urine that she may have no need to Rise The second Mark to discover if a Woman be with Child is if the day after she feels her Belly empty and especially about the Navel And the Reason of it is that when the Matrix will conceive it stretches and extends extremely because in a manner it is apt to swell and stiffen upon this Occasion after the same fashion as a Mans Yard and stretching out after this manner it takes up more room but at the instant it conceives Hippocrates says that it closes and draws into the form of a little Egg to draw the Seed to it and let nothing out by which means it leaves a great Vacuity Which the Women explain saying that they have no slack Guts left soon after they grow big Besides which they forthwith nauseate their Husbands Caresses the Womb having what it wanted But the most certain Sign as Hippocrates says is when the Menses cease their Brests swell and they loath their Meat Article IV. What is to be observed that the Children may prove Witty and Wise IF the Reason and Cause be not known beforehand whence it proceeds that a Man of great Wit and Capacity is begotten it is impossible to reduce the same to an Art since we attain the End by no other Means but by connecting and ordering the Principles and Causes The Astrologers hold that the Child being born under such an Influence of the Stars will be Wise Witty Well or Ill-condition'd happy or unhappy with a thousand other qualities and properties which we see and observe every day among Men. But if this were true we could not here prescribe any Rules for all would depend upon Chance and not be in our Choice The natural Philosophers as Hippocrates Plato Aristotle and Galen were of Opinon that a Man receives the conditions of his Soul at the time of his Formation and not of his Birth The Stars only causing a superficial Alteration in the Babe communicating to to him Heat Cold Moisture Dryness and not his Substance whereon his Life depends as do the four Elements Fire Earth Air Water which not only add to the Composition heat cold moisture dryness but also a substance that unites and preserves these Qualities during the course of Life So that what is of greatest Importance in begetting Children is to endeavour that the Elements from which they are formed should have the Qualities requisite to Wit because that in the same Weight and Measure the Elements enter into the Composition in the same they remain for ever in the Mixture which is not so in the Mutations and Influences of Heaven What these Elements are and after what manner they enter the Woman's Womb to form the Child Galen tells when he teaches us that they are the same which compound all other natural things but that the Earth is concealed in the solid Meats we Eat such as Bread Flesh Fish and Fruits the Water under the Liquors we Drink and for the Air and Fire he says that they are mingled by order of Nature and enter into the Body by way of the Pulse and Respiration Of these four Elements mingled and digested by our Natural Heat are made the two necessary Principles of the Infants Generation which are the Seed and the Menstruous Blood But that whereof we make the greatest Account for the Mark we aim at are the solid Meats that are Eaten For they include within themselves all the four Elements and from them the Seed draws more Corpulence and Quality than from the Water which we drink or the Fire and Air which we breath Wherefore Galen says that the Parents who would beget wise Children should read the three Books he writ Of the Properties of Aliments for there they should find the Meats by which they should effect the same He makes no mention at all of Water nor of the other Elements as matters of small Consequence But he had no Reason for this for Water alters the Body much more than the Air and no less than the solid Meats we use and as to what regards the Generation of the Seed the Water alone is of as great Importance as all the other Elements together The reason of it is as the same Galen says that the Testicles draw from the Veins for their Nourishment the serous portion of Blood and the greatest part of this