great number of Persons that can't suffer the fight of a Rat of a Mouse a Cat a Frog and particularly creeping Animals as Serpents and Adders who know no other cause of these extraordinary aversions but the fear their Mothers had of these several Animals whilst they were with Child of them But what I chiefly desire should be observed is An Explanation of Concupiscence and of Original Sin that there is all possible probabilities that Men retain in their Brain to this day the traces and impressions of our first Parents For as Animals produce their own likeness and with the like traces in their Brain which is the cause that Animals of the same Species have the same Sympathies and Antipathies and that they perform the same actions in the same occurrences Thus our first Parents after their Sin received such great impressions and profound traces of sensible things in their Brain as they might very well communicate to their Children so that this great propensity we have from the Womb to all sensible things and the great distance from God we are in by our present state may in some manner be explained by what has been said For as it is necessary according to the established order of Nature that the thoughts of the Soul should be conformable to the traces that are in the Brain We may say that as soon as we are formed in the Womb we are polluted with Sin and infected with the Corruption of our Parents since from that time we are strongly inclined to the pleasures of our Senses having in our Brain traces resembling those of the Persons who hath given us being it is necessary also that we shou'd have the same thoughts and the same inclinations which have any relation to sensible objects Rom. ch 6.5.12 14. c Thus it is impossible but that we should be born with Concupiscence and Original Sin We must be born with Concupiscence if Concupiscence is only the Natural effort that the traces of the Brain make upon the Mind to engage it to sensible things and we must be born in Original Sin if Original Sin is nothing else but the Dominion of Concupiscence and that these efforts become Victorious and Masters over the Mind and Heart of the Child Now it is very probable that the dominion or victory of Concupiscence is what we call Original Sin in Children and actual in Men. Objections and An ∣ swers This difficulty seems only to recur that contrary to Experience we might conclude from the principles I have established that the Mother would always communicate to her Child Habits and Inclinations resembling her own and a facility of imagining and learning the same things as she knows for all these things depend as has been already said only upon the traces and impressions of the Brain and it is certain that the impressions and traces of the Mothers Brain are communicated to the Child This has been proved by the Examples that has been brought concerning Men and is also confirmed by the Example of Animals whose young ones have their Brains filled with the same impressions which is the reason that all those that are of the same kind have the same Voice the same manner of moving their Members and also the same craft to take their Prey and defend themselves from their Enemies Therefore it must from thence follow that since all the traces of the Mothers Brain are imprinted in that of the Childs that the Children must be born with the same Habits and all the other qualities that the Mothers are possessed of and even commonly so to preserve them all their Lives since the Habits they have from their Infancy are those that are the longest kept which nevertheless is contrary to experience To answer this Objection it is requisite it should be known that there are two sorts of traces in the Brain the one Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the other acquired The Natural are very deep and it is impossible to esface them perfectly but on the contrary the acquired may be easily lost because commonly they are not deep Now although the Natural and acquired differ only as to the More or Less and that often the first have less force than the second since we every day accustom Animals to do things perfectly contrary to what they are inclined by these Natural traces for Example we use a Dog not to touch Bread nor to run after a Partridge although he sees and smells it Yet there iâ— this difference between these traces that the Natural ones have if we may so say secret alliances with the other parts of the body thus all the Springs of our Machines assist one the other to preserve themselves in their Natural state All the parts of our bodies mutually contribute to all necessary things for the preservation or re-establishment of these Natural traces Thus we cannot wholly efface them and they begin to revive when we believe we have destroyed them On the contrary the acquired Traces although greater more profound and stronger than the Natural are lost by little and little if they are not carefully preserved by a continual application of those things that produced them because the other parts of the body contribute nothing to their preservation but on the contrary continually endeavour to efface and loose them We may compare these traces to the common Wounds of the body they are wounds that our Brains receive which heal of themselves as these wounds of the body do by the admirable construction of the Machine As then there is nothing in all the body which is not conformable to the Natural traces they transmit themselves into Children with all their force So Parrots hatch little ones which have the same or Natural voices with themselves but because acquired traces are only in the Brain and not dispersed through the rest of the body except some few of 'em as when they have been imprinted by the Motions that accompany violent Passions they must not be transmitted into Children Thus a Parrot who gives the good Morrow and good Night to his Master will not make his little ones as Learned as himself and so Wise and able Persons will not have Children which resemble them Thus although it be true that all which passes in the Mothers Brain passes also in the same time into that of the Child and that the Mother can see nothing feel nothing imagine nothing that the Child does not likewise see feel and imagine and that aâ— the false traces of the Mother corrupt the Imagination of the Child Yet those traces not being Natural in the sense before explained it must not be wonder'd at if they are commonly effaced as soon as the Child is born for then the cause that formed and maintained these traces no longer subsists the Natural Constitution of the â—worldâ— contributes to their destruction and sensible 〈…〉 in their room others that are new deeper 〈…〉 greater Number which efface almost
of things that we shall afterwards treat of but for what we shall speak of in this Chapter it is necessary that we know there is Natural dispositions in the Brain which incline us to Compassion as well as Imitation We must then consider that not only the Animal Spirits carry themselves Naturally into the parts of our Bodies to cause the same Actions and Motions we see in others but also in some manner to receive their Injuries and to take part in their Miseries for Experience teaches us that when we very attentively consider any one that is rudely hurt or that hath any great wound the Spirits are carried with great force into such parts of our Bodies as answer to those that we see hurt in another Provided that we do not turn the course of the Animal Spirits otherways by an industrious and voluntary titillation of some other part of the body Or except their Natural course to the Heart and Bowels which is wont to happen in sudden Motions draw them along with it self or change that course which we speak of Or lastly except some extraordinary connection with the traâ—â—s of the Brain and Motions of the Spirits produce the same effect The Spirits being thus carried into the parts of the Body which answer to those that we see hurt in oothers make a very sensible Impression in delicate Persons who have a lively Imagination and very tender and soft flesh for they very often feel a kind of trembling in their Legs if they attentively look upon any one that hath an Ulcer or that has actually received some blow there This that one of my Friends writ me an account of confirms my Opinion An Old Man that lived at one of my Sisteâ—s being sick a young Maid Servant of the House held the Candle whilst he was let blood in the Foâ—t and when she saw the Surgeon give the prick with the Lancet she was seized with such an apprehension that she felt so lively a pain in the same place of the Foot for three or four days afterwards that she was forced to keep her Bed all that time The reason of these accidents is that the Spirits forcibly diffusing themselves into those parts of our body which answer to what we see hurt in others being kept more bent they make the Soul more sensible and put it upon its guard to avoid those evils that it sees happen to others This Compassion in the Body produces one in the Mind it excites us to help and assist others because in that we relieve our selves and it also stops our Malice and Cruelty for the horrour of Blood the fear of Death and in a word the sensible impression of Compassion often hinders those from killing of Beasts who even are much perswaded that they are only Machines because the generality of Mankind cannot kill them without hurting themselves by the counterstroke of Compassion What is chiefly to be observed here is that the sensible sight of a wound that any Person receives produces in those that see it another hurt so much the more sensible as the beholder is more weak and delicate because this sensible sight pushes the Animal Spirits with more violence into those parts of the body which answer to what they see hurt and so make a greater Impression in the Fibres of a delicate body than in one that is more strong and robust So Men who are strong and vigorous are not hurt by the sight of a Murder they are not so much inclined to Compassion because this sight offends their Bodies but because it offends their Reason These Persons have no pity for Criminals they are immoveabie and inexorable But Women and Children suffer much Pain by the Wounds they see others receive they have a Mecanical Compassion for the Miserable Nay they cannot see a Dog beat or hear him cry without being disturbed at it As for Infants who are yet in their Mothers Belly the delicacy of the Fibres of their Flesh being infinitely greater than that of Women or Children the Course of the Spirits will produce more considerable changes in them as we shall afterwards observe Let what I have said be look'd upon as a simple Supposition if it is desired yet we must endeavour to comprehend it well if we will distinctly conceive what I would explain in this Chapter For the two Suppositions that I have made are the principles of an infinite Number of things which have been generally believed very hidden and mysterious and which appear impossible to me to be explained without receiving these Suppositions Of which here are some Examples About Seven or Eight years ago I saw in the * An Hospital in France for such as we past Cure III. An Explanation of the generation of Mâ—nstrous Children and of the prâ—pagâ—tion of the Species Incurables a young Man who was born a Fool and his body broken after the same manner as Criminals are broke on the Wheel He had lived near twenty Years in this condition many Persons have seen him and the late Queen-Mother going to visit this Hospital had the Curiosity to see him and to touch the Arms and Legs of this young Man in the same places where they were broke According to the principles that I have established the Cause of this sad Accident was that his Mother who heard a Criminal was to be broken went to see him executed all the blows that this miserable Man received so strongly smote the Imagination of this Mother and by a kind of Counter-blow the render delicate Brain of her * According to the first Supposition Child The Fibres of this Womans Brain were strangely shaken and it may be broke in some places by the impetuous Course of the Animal Spirits caused by the sight of so terrible an Action but she was strong enough to hinder their absolute ruine though on the contrary the Fibres of this Child's Brain being not able to resist the torrent of these Spirits were entirely dissipated and the shock was great enough to make him wholly lose his Wits and this was the reason he came into the World deprived of his Understanding this was likewise the cause that the same parts of his body was broken as those of the Criminal whom his Mother saw executed At the sight of this Execution which was so capable of frighting a Woman the violent course of the Mothers Animal Spirits went impetuously from her Brain to all the parts of her Body which answer'd to those of the Criminal * According to the second Supposition and the same thing passed in the Infant But because the Bones of the Mother were able to resist the Violence of these Spirits they received no hurt Nay it may be she did feel no pain nor the least trembling in her Legs when the Criminal was broken but the rapid stream of the Spirits was capable to separate the soft and tender Bones of the Infant for the Bones are the last parts of the
in Imagination have the advantage to please to affect and perswade because they form the most lively and sensible Images of their thoughts But there are other Causes that contribute to their easie gaining upon the Mind For they never Discourse but upon easie Subjects and such as are within the reach of Vulgar Apprehensions They never make use of other Expressions and Terms than such as only excite the Confus'd Notions of the Senses which always most vehemently affect us They never talk of Sublime and Difficult Matters but after a Rambling manner and by way of Common Places For they dare not venture themselves to dive into Particulars and stick close to Principles whither it be because they do not understand those Matters or whether they are afraid lest they should for want of Terms intangle themselves and tire the Minds of those that are not accustom'd to a serious Attention From what has been said it is easie to judge that the Vieâ—s of an Irregular Imagination are extreamly Contagious and thâ—â— they very easily insinuate and dispeâ—â—e themselves into the Minds of most People But they who have a Strong Imagination being usually Enâ—â—â—es to Reason and good Sense because of their want of Wit and the Phantomes of their Brain to which they are subject it may be thence readily inferr'd that there are few Causes of our Errors more universal than the Contagious Communication of the Disorders and Distempers of the Imagination But we ought to prove these Truths by Examples and Experiments Familiar to all the World CHAP. II. General Examples of the Force of the Imagination THere are frequent Examples of this Communication of the Imagination in Children in respect of their Parents more especially in Girles in respect of their Mothers in Men Servants in respect of their Masters and Maid Servants in respect of their Mistresses in Scholers in respect of their School-masters Courtiers in respect of their Princes and generally in all Inferiors in respect of their Superiors Provided that Parents Masters and other Superiors be endued with something of a Strong Imagination otherwise the Weak Imagination of Parents or Masters will make no considerable Impression in Children or Servants The Effects of this Communication are also to be observ'd in Persons of Equal Conditions but that is not so usual because there is not that Veneration among them which disposes the Mind in such a manner as to admit the Impression of Strong Imaginations without any Examination Lastly these Effects are to be met with in Superiors in respect of their Inferiors For many times Inferiors are endu'd with an Imagination so lively and imperious that they bend the Minds of their Masters and Superiors which way they please themselves It will be an easie thing to apprehend how Fathers and Mothers make very strong Impressions upon the Imaginations of their Children if we consider that these Natural Dispositions of our Brain which inclines us to imitate those with whom we Converse and to be affected with the same Sentiments and Passions are far stronger in Children in respect of their Parents than in other Men For which several Reasons may be given and the first is because they are of the same Blood For as Parents frequently transmit to their Children a Disposition to certain Hereditary Distempers as the Gout the Stone Madness and generally all those Diseases which do not come by accident or from some extraordinary Fermentation of the Humours as Fevers Agues c. for it is visible that as those Diseases cannot be communicated so they imprint the Dispositions of their own upon the Brains of their Children and bend their Imaginations in such a manner as to render 'em capable of the same Sentiments with themselves The second Reason is because that Children have very little Familiarity with other Men who might sometimes else impress other Traces in their Brains and in some measure frustrate the continual Effort of Paternal Impressions For as a Man that never stirr'd out of his own Country usually imagines the Manners and Customs of Foreign Nations to be altogether contrary to Reason so a Child that never stirr'd out of his Fathers House imagines the Sentiments of his Parents and their manner of living to be the Standard of Universal Reason or rather he does not believe there are any other Principles of Reason or Vertue than what he has imbib'd from his Parents He therefore believes whatever he hears his Parents say and conforms himself in whatever they do But this Imagination of Parents is so strong that it not only acts upon the Imagination of Children but also upon other parts of the Body A Son imitates the Gate the Speech and Gestures of his Father A Daughter imitates the Dress the Pace and Voice of her Mother If the Mother Lisps the Daughter Lisps if the Mother have an ill Habit of holding her Head awry the Daughter does so too Lastly Children imitate their Parents in every thing in their Defects and their ill Gestures in their Errors and their Vices There are several other Causes which augment the Effect of this Impression Of which the chiefest are the Authority of Parents the Dependency of Children and the mutual Affection both of the one and the other But these Causes are common to Courtiers and Servants and generally to all Inferiors as well as to Children We shall now Explain the Matter by the Example of Courtiers There are some People who judge of what they see by what is conspicuous before their Eyes as of Sublimness Power and Capacity of Mind which lie conceal'd from their Knowledge by that Nobility those Dignities and that Wealth which is known to ' em They frequently measure one by the other And our dependance upon Great Men so much above us our desire to participate of their Grandeur and the vast Splendour that environs 'em incline us frequently to pay Divine Honours to Mortal Men if it may be lawful for me to say so For if God confer Authority upon Princes Men ascribe Infallibility to 'em an Infallibility so universal as not to be circumscrib'd within any bounds in any thing or upon any occafion nor tied to any Ceremonies Great Men know all things naturally Though they decide Questions of which they have no knowledge yet they have always Reason on their side He that dares adventure to Examine what they say is ignorant and knows nothing He that raises any doubts derogates from that Veneration which is due to 'em He that condemns 'em is guilty of Rebellion or at least is a Sott a Madman and fit for nothing but to be made a Laughing Stock to all the World But if Great Men vouchsafe us their Favours then if we do not approve all their Sayings we are not only Obstinate Headstrong and Rebellious but Ungrateful and Perfidious this is a fault beyond repairation that renders us unworthy of their Favours which is the Reason that Courtiers and by a necessary Consequence almost all other People without
nothing yet the difficulty is not solv'd by this Subterfuge For we ought to consider that it is not more difficult to produce something out of nothing than to produce one thing out of another which cannot at all contribute to its Production For example it is not more difficult to Create an Angel than to produce him from a Stone because a Stone being of another sort of Being wholly different it cannot in the least be useful to the Production of an Angel But it may contribute to the Production of Bread Gold c. for a Stone Gold and Bread are but the same thing differently configur'd and are all Material It is even more difficult to produce an Angel of a Stone than to pronuce him out of nothing because to make an Angel out of a Stone so far as it can be done the Stone must be annihilated and afterwards the Angel Created But simply to Create an Angel nothing is to be annihilated If therefore the Mind produces its Idea's from the material Impressions which the Brain receives from Objects it must always do the same thing or a thing as difficult or even more difficult than if it Created them since Idea's being Spiritual they cannot be produc'd of material Images which have no proportion with them But if it be said that an Idea is not a Substance I consent to it yet it is always something that is Spiritual and as it is impossible to make a Square of a Spirit although a Square be not a Substance so it is also impossible to Form a Material Substance from a Spiritual Idea although an Idea was no Substance But although we should grant to the Mind of Man a Soveraign Power to Annihilate and Create the Idea's of things yet it would never make use of that Power to produce them for even as a Painter how skilful soever he be could not represent an Animal which he had never seen and of which he never had any Idea So that the Picture which he should make should be like to this unknown Animal Thus a Man cannot form the Idea of an Object if he knew it not before that is if he has not already had some Idea of it which does not depend upon his Will and if he already had an Idea of it he certainly knows this Object and it would be unnecessary for him to Form it anew It is therefore in vain to attribute to the Mind of Man the Power of producing his Idea's It might be said perhaps that the Mind of Man hath general and confused Idea's which it does not produce and that those which it produces are particular more clear and distinct but it is always the same thing For even as a Painter cannot draw the Picture of a particular Person so as to be sure that he hath perfected it if he had had no distinct Idea of him and even if the Person had not been present Thus the Mind for example which could only have the Idea of a Being or an Animal in general could not represent to its self a Horse nor Form a distinct Idea of one and be assured that it is perfectly like a Horse if it had not already the first Idea with which it might compare this second Now if it had a first it is unuseful to Form a second and the Question respects this first Therefore c. It 's true that when we conceive a Square by pure Intellection we can also imagin it that is perceive it in our selves by tracing an Image of it in the Brain yet it must be first observ'd that we are not the true nor principal Cause of this Image But it will be too long to explain it here Secondly So far is the second Idea which accompanies this Image from being more distinct and more exact than the other that on the contrary it is not so Exact because it resembles the first which was only a pattern for the second For indeed we must not believe that the Imagination and Senses represent Objects more distinctly to us than the pure Understanding but only that they apply them more to the Mind for the Idea's of the Senses and Imagination are not distinct but only so far as they are conformable to the pure Intellection The Image of a Square for example which the Imagination Traces in the Brain is not exact and perfect but only so far as it resembles the Idea of the Square which we conceive by pure Intellection It is this Idea which regulates this Image 't is the Mind which Conducts the Imagination and which Obliges it if we may so say to behold from time to time whether the Image it Paints be a Figure of four right and equal Lines whose Angles are alike In a word whether what it Imagins is like to what it Conceives After what has been said Tanto meliora esse judico qua oculis cerno quanto pro sui natura viciniora sunt iisquae animointelligo Aug. 63. de Vera Religione I do not believe it can be doubted but those are deceived who affirm the Mind is able to Form the Idea's of Objects since they attribute the Power of Creation to the Mind and even of Creating with Wisdom and Order although it has no knowledge of what it does for that is not Conceivable But the cause of their Error is that Men always Judge that a thing is the Cause of some Effect when both are joined together supposing the true Cause of this Effect be unknown to them That makes all the World conclude that a Bowl put in Motion and meeting another is the true and principal Cause of the Motion that it communicates to it as the Will of the Soul is the true and principal Cause of the Motion of the Arm and other the like prejudices because it always happens that a Bowl is shaken when it is met by another that runs against it As our Arms are moved almost always when we Will and we do not see any other apparent Cause of this Motion But when an Effect does not so often follow something which is not the Cause of it there is nevertheless a great many Men who believe this thing is the Cause of the Effect which happens yet every Body is not guilty of the same Error For instance if a Comet appears and after this Comet a Prince Dies Some Stones lie exposed to the Moon and they are eaten with Worms The Sun is joined with Mars at the Nativity of a Child and something extraordinary happens to this Child All this is enough to perswade a great many Men that the Comet the Moon and the Conjunction of the Sun with Mars are the Causes of these Effects and others like them and the reason why all the World does not believe it is that they do not always see these Effects follow these Causes But all Men having commonly the Idea's of Objects present to their Minds as soon as they wish it and it happening many
hours are dissipated by transpiration through the Pores of those Vessels that contain them and it very often happens that others succeed which do not perfectly resemble them but the Fibres of the Brain are not so easily dissipated there does not often happen any considerable Change in them and their whole substance cannot be changed but after many years The most considerable differences that are found in a Man's Brain during the whole Course of his Life are in Infancy at his full Strength and in Old Age. The Fibres of the Brain in Children are soft flexible and delicate in perfect Age they become more dry hard and strong but in Old Age they become wholly inflexible gross and sometimes mingled with superfluous humours that the feeble heat of this Age cannot be any longer dissipated For as we see the Fibres which compose the Flesh harden in time and that the Flesh of a young Partridge is without dispute more tender than that of an old one so the Fibres of the Brain of a Child or Youth will be much more soft and delicate than those of Persons that are more advanced in years We shall soon see the reason of these Changes if we but consider how these Fibres are continually agitated by the Animal Spirits which run round about them in many different ways For as the Wind drys the Earth by blowing upon it so the Animal Spirits through their continual agitation by little and little render the greatest part of the Fibres of Man's Brain more dry compressed and solid so that Persons a little advanced in Years will almost always have them more inflexible then those that are Younger And for those that are of the same Age as Drunkards who for many years have used Wine to Excess or such Liquors as have been able to stupifie them will also have them more solid and more inflexible then such as are deprived of those Drinks during their whole Lives Now the different Constitutions of the Brain in Children Men at full growth and old Men are very considerable Causes of the difference that is observed in their faculty of Imagining of which we shall afterwards speak CHAP. VII I. Of the Communication which is between the Brain of a Mother and that of her Child II. Of the Communication that is between our Brain and the other parts of our Body which carries us to Imitation and Compassion III. An Explanation of the generation of Monstrous Children and of the Propagation of the Species IV. Some Irregularities of the Mind and some Inclinations of the Will explained V. Of Concupiscence and Original Sin VI. Objections and Answers IT is sufficiently evident to me that we incline to all things and that we have a Natural relation to every thing about us that is most useful for the Preservation and conveniency of Life But these relations are not equal we are more inclined to France than to China to the Sun than to any Star and to our own House more than to our Neighbours There are invsible ties which unite us more strictly to Men than to Beasts to our Relations and Friends than to Strangers to those we depend upon for the preservation of our Lives than such from whom we neither fear nor hope any thing What is chiefly to be observed in this Natural Union which is between us and other Men is that 't is so much the greater as we have more need of them Relations and Friends are strictly United one to another we may say their Griefs and Miseries are Common as well as their Joys and Happiness for all the Passions and Sensations of our Friends are communicated to us by the impression of their aspect and air of their Face Yet because we cannot absolutely live without them there is also another stricter Union then that Natural and Mutual one which is betwixt us and them Children in their Mothers Bellies I. Of the Communication which is between the Brain of a Mother and that of a Child whose Bodies are not yet entirely formed who are of themselves in as weak and helpless a condition as can be conceived must also be united with their Mothers in the stricktest manner that can be imagined And althâ— their Souls are separated from their Mothers yet their Bodies being linked together we must think they have the same Sensations and Passions and indeed the same thoughts which are excited in the Soul by the motions that are produced in the Body Thus Infants see what their Mothers see they hear the same Crys receive the same impressions of Objects and are agitated with the same Passions For since the air of a passionate Mans face penetrates those who look upon him and naturally imprints in them a passion like that which agitates him although the Union of the Man with those that consider him is not so great it seems reasonable to me to think that Mothers are capable of impressing upon their Children all the same Sensations they are affected with and all the same passions by which they are agitated For the body of an Infant makes but one with that of the Mothers the Blood and Spirits are common to both and Sensations and Passions are the Natural Consequence of the Motion of the Spirits and Blood which Motions necessarily Communicate themselves from the Mother to the Child Therefore the passions sensations and generally all the thoughts which proceed from the body are common both to the Mother and Child These things appear unquestionable for many reasons and I advance them only here as a supposition agreeable to my thoughts but shall sufficiently demonstrate them hereafter For whatsoever hypothesis can resolve all difficulties that can be brought against it ought to pass for an unquestionable principle The invisible bonds by which the Author of Nature unites all these Works are worthy the Wisdom of God and admiration of Men there is nothing that 's both more surprizing and instructive together but we think not of it we suffer our selves to be conducted without considering who it is that conducts us Nature is hidden from us as well as its Author and we feel the Motions which she produces in us without considering the Causes of 'em yet are there few things more necessary to be known for 't is upon their knowledge that the Explanation of whatsoever belongs to Man depends There are certainly springs in our Brain which Naturally incline us to Imitation II. Of the Communication there is between our Brain and the other parts of our bodies which inclines us to Imitation and Compassion for it is very necessary to Civil Society It is not only requisite that Children should believe their Fathers Disciples their Masters and Inferiors those which are above them for all Men must have some disposition to take the same manners and to do the same actions with those they live with To unite Men together there must be a resemblance both of Body and Mind this is the principle of an infinite Number
Body that are formed and they have very little consistence in Infants while they are in the Womb And it must be observed that if this Mother had determined the Motion of these Spirits to any other part of her Body by some violent titilation her Child would not have had his Bones broken but that part which had answer'd to that to which the Mother determined these Spirits had been much hurt as I have already said The Reasons of this accident may serve to explain in general how Women who during their being with Child upon seeing Persons with certain Marks in their Faces imprint the same on their Children and in the same part of the Body And from thence we may judge that advice very reasonable which bids 'em touch some hidden part of the Body when they perceive any thing which surprizes 'em and when they are agitated with any violent Passion for that may cause the Marks to be traced rather upon these hidden parts than upon the Face of their Infants We should often have instances like to what I have now related if Infants could live after having received such great Wounds but generally it causes Abortions For we may conclude that almost all Infants who dye before they are born except they be sick have no other cause of their Death than a fright some ardent desire or some other violent passion of their Mothers Here is also another very particular instance 'T is not above a Year since that a Woman having with too much application consider'd the Picture of Saint Pius when the Feast of his Canonization was celebrated was brought to bed of a Child which was perfectly like the Representation of this Saint He had the Face of an Old Man as much as it was possible in an Infant that has no Beard his Arms were crossed upon his Breast his Eyes turned towards Heaven and he had a very low Forehead because the Image of this Saint being raised towards the Vault of the Church and looking towards Heaven had almost no Forehead likewise He had a kind of a confused Miter upon his Shoulders with many round marks in the places where Miters are covered with Stones And indeed this Child very much resembled the Picture by which his Mother had formed him through the power of her Imagination 'T is a thing that all Paris might have seen as well as I because 't was a long time preserved in Spirits of Wine This instance is the more particular because there was not the sight of a Man living and agitated with some passion who moved the Spirits and Blood of the Mother to produce so strange an effect but only the sight of a Picture which yet was very sensible and accompanied with a great emotion of Spirits caused either through the Zeal and application of the Mother or through the agitation that the noise of the Feast had produc'd in her This Mother therefore looking upon this Picture with some application and emotion of Spirits the Child according to the first supposition saw it as she did with the same application and emotion of Spirits The Mother being lively affected imitated him at leaft in the Posture according to the second Supposition for her body being entirely formed and the Fibres of her Flesh hard enough to resist the course of the Spirits she could not imitate or make her self like to him in all things but the Fibres of the Infant 's Flesh being extreamly soft and consequently susceptible of all sorts of impressions the violent course of the Spirits produced in his Flesh whatsoever was necessary to make him entirely like the Image that he saw and the imitation to which Children are much more disposed perfected it as much as possible but this imitation having given to the body of this Child a figure so very extraordinary it was also the cause of its Death There are many other Examples in Authors of the power of the Imagination of Mothers and there is nothing so fantastical but has caused Abortions sometimes For they not only make Children deformed but also marked with such Fruits as they have longed for as Plumbs Pears Grapes and such like things For instance some Mothers having a strong Inclination to eat Pears the Children imagine and desire them with the same ardour and the course of the Spirits excited by the image of this desired fruit disposing it self through the little body is able to change its sigure because of its sostness So that these poor Children become like those things they wish'd for with so much ardour But the Mothers suffer no Injury because their bodies are not soft enough to take the figure of such things as they imagine Thus they cannot imitate them or render themselves entirely like ' em Now it must not be imagined that this Correspondence that I have explained and which is sometimes the cause of such great disorder is useless or ill ordered by Nature for on the contrary it seems very useful in the Propagation of Humane Bodies or in the formation of the Foetus and it is absolutely necessary to the transmitting certain dispositions of the Brain which ought to be different at different times and in different Countrys For instance it is requisite in some Countrys that Lambs should have their Brains to disposed as to fly at the sight of a Wolf because there are many of 'em there and they have a great deal to fear from them 'T is true that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with her Infants has sometimes ill consequences when the Mothers suffer themselves to be surprized by any violent passion Yet it seems to me that without this Communication Women and Animals could not easily beget young ones of the same kind for although some reason might be given of the formation of the Foetus in general as D'Cartes has happily enough attempted However 't is very difficult without this Communication of the Mothers Brain with the Childs to explain how a Mare should not beget an Ox or an Hen lay an Egg which contains a little Partridge or some Foul of a new kind I believe those that have considered the sormation of the Foetus will be of this opinion The most reasonable thought and that which is most conformable to experience about this difficule question of the formation of the Foetus is that Children are perfectly formed even before the action by which they are conceived and that their Mothers only contribute to their growth whilst they continue in the Womb. However this Communication of Animal Spirits and of the Mothers Brain with the Spirits and Brain of the Child seems still serviceable to regulate this growth and determine the parts which serve for its Nourishment and by little and little to dispose the Child like the Mother or else like some of the same Species This appears plain enough by the accidents which happen when the Imagination of the Mother is disordered and the Natural Disposition of her Brain is changed
true and solid Vertue and therefore he alone can bring us to true and solid Happiness But he neither promises nor bestows it in this Life 'T is in the other Life that we must hope for it from his Justice as the Reward of those Miseries which we suffer'd for Love of him We are not at present in possession of that Repose which nothing can trouble Neither does the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ afford us invincible strength it leaves us to the feeling of our own weakness that being convinc'd of our frailty we may understand that there is nothing in this World wherewith we may not be injur'd and that we may be enabled to bear those injuries which are offer'd us with that true Patience which arises from Christian Humility and Modesty not with a lofty haughty Patience that appear'd in the Constancy of proud Cato Cato took in good part a Box of the Ear that was given him he never reveng'd himself nor did he pardon it but he arrogantly deny'd that he had any injury done him He would have it believ'd that he was above those that struck him His Patience was nothing but Pride and Insolency It was injurious to those that affronted For by that same Stoical Patience did Cato shew that he look'd upon his Enemies as Beasts that are not worth the anger of a Wiseman and therefore he takes no notice of ' em 'T is this same Scorn of his Enemies and high Esteem of himself that Seneca calls greatness of Courage Majori animo says he of the injury done to Cato non agnovit quam ignovisset How madly does he confound Magnanimity with Pride and separate Patience from Humility to join it with insufferable Arrogancy But how delightfully does this same Madness flatter the Vanity of Man who always refuses to submit and debase himself And how dangerous is it especially for Christians to imbibe the Doctrine of a Master so Indiscreet and void of Judgment as Seneca but whose Imagination is so strong so vigorous and so impetuous that it dazles and like a Torrent hurries along with it People of weak Understanding and such as are prone to the Flatteries of Pleasure and Concupiscence Rather let Christians learn from their Master that the Wicked are they who are able to hurt 'em and that Good Men are sometimes liable to the Injuries of the Impious by the permission of Providence When one of the Officers belonging to the High-Priest smote Jesus Christ upon the Face He the Wisest of all the Wisest among Christians infinitely Wise and likewise as Powerful as he is Wise does not deny but that he was injur'd by the Officer however he was not angry he does not as Cato did revenge himself but he pardons as one that had suffer'd a real Injury He could have reveng'd himself and destroy'd his Enemies bu the suffer'd with an humble and modest Patience which was no way injurious to any body no not to the Miscreant that did him the Mischief Cato on the other side neither being able nor daring to take a real Revenge for the Injury he had receiv'd feigns at least an Imaginary Vengeance that flatters his own Vanity and Pride he raises himself in his own mind above the Clouds from thence he beholds poor Mortals as small as Flies and he contemns 'em as Infects uncapable of hurting him and unworthy of his Anger This is a Fiction becoming the Wise Cato From this Fiction arises that Magnanimity and Constancy of his Courage that resembles him to the Gods It is this that renders him invulnerable since it advances him above all the Strength and Maligâ—ity of other Men. Poor Cato who by thy Vertue think'st thy self superior to all other Mortals Thy Wisdom is but Madness and thy Magnanimity an Abomination in the sight of God whatever the Wise Men of the World thinks of it Sapieutia hujâ—s mundi est stultitia coram Deo Qâ—d homimbus altum est abominatio est ante Deum Luc. 16. There are Visionaries of several sorts some imagine themselves to be transform'd into Cocks and Hens others believe themselves to be Kings or Emperors others in imitation of the Deity arrogate an absolute Independency to themselves But though Men are always look'd upon as Madmen who believe themselves to be transform'd into Cocks or Kings yet are they not always number'd among the Frantick Visionaries who believe that their Vertue resembles 'em to God and Independent from all Authority and Command The Reason of it is that it is not enough to have Raving Thoughts to be counted a Madman they must be accounted Phrentick and Ridiculous by others For Madmen never pass for what they are among such as resemble themselves but only among Men of Sense and Wisdom as Wise-men are never look'd upon to be such by those that are Mad Men then acknowledge those to be Fools who conceit themselves to be turn'd into Cocks and Kings because all Men of Sense believe that it is not so easie for any Body to become a Cock or a King But Men in all Ages have thought they might be equal to the Gods Their Vanity has infus'd this Opinion into 'em as a thing probable enough They learn't it from their first Parents For without doubt our first Parents were of that Opinion when they obey'd the Devil who tempted 'em with a Promise that they should be like to God Eritis sicut Dii The most pure Intelligences endu'd with Celestial Precepts and Clear Understandings were so blinded by their own Pride that they thought they might throw off the Yoak of Divine Authority and seat themselves upon the Throne of God So that 't is no wonder if Men who are inferior to Angels in Purity and Understanding abandon themselves to the same Motions of their Vanity which blinds and seduces ' em If the Temptation of Grandeur and Independency be the strongest of all 't is because it seems to us as it did to our Forefathers more comformable to our Reason as well as to our Inclination for we are not always sensible of our own Weaknesses and Wants that cause us to stand in need of every thing Had the Serpent menac'd our first Parents by telling 'em That unless they eat of the Fruit which God had forbid 'em to eat they should be transform'd the one into a Cock the other into a Hen I question whether they would not have derided so foolish a Tempeation for we should have derided it our selves But the Devil judging of others by himself well knew that Ambition and desire of Independency were the Pâ—ind sides against which he was to plant his Batteries The Second Reason why we look upon those to be Madmen that believe themselves to be transform'd into Cocks and Kings and yet have not the same thoughts of those who believe that no Body can hurt 'em as being above all Pain is this because they who are Hypochondraical display their Mistakes visibly to all People so that every