My old Friend being returned from the Country sent me a Letter the next Morning in which he notisied He would see me before four and twenty Hours were at an end and that I should put my self in a Readiness for my Voyage I waited all the Day with great Impatience but seeing at last he did not come about ten a Clock I went to Bed half an Hour after being yet awake I was amazed to hear my Curtains drawn on all Sides my Bed the Casements of my Windows to fly open with so vast a Noise and to see by the Assistance of the Moon my old Gentleman in the middle of the Room and another with him habited in an unusual Dress I protest I was seized with such a sudden Dread that the Hair of my Head stood upright and I sweat all over The old Gentleman then approaching to my Bed-side said You are fearful take Courage a little Don't you know me I know you answered I in a trembling Tone but what could I think to see you in my Chamber without entring at the Door with such a Noise and Havock as was here What you should and ought to think said he is that a Spirit separate from the Body may enter any where without a Key and needs not the Convenience of a Door And for the Noise it was first to wake you and then for the Pleasure of surprizing you and putting you in a little Fright Do not you remember the Conversation we had together a Fortnight since I well remember it said I but was it all true you then related Infallibly said he and I now am come to make good my Promise I then made you of conducting you to M. Descartes's World Here is the Reverend Father Mersennus who is now come from him to advise me all is ready and that he would be glad before he puts the Design of his World in Execution to make a Tryal in the Presence of some of his Friends you shall be of the Party if you think fit I advise you not to lose so fair an Opportunity At the same Time Father Mersennus steps up and bowing low to the Ground confirmed what my old Philosopher had said and added That understanding by him the Character and Qualification of my Soul he could undertake for a kind Reception from M. Descartes Pardon Reverend Father said I my Astonishment I am not accustomed to receive such Visits Spirits I never saw before and I could never have believed they had been so civil and well-bred as I now find them Mean while though I us'd all possible endeavours to compose my self I still was somewhat fearful I was under strong Apprehensions there might be Sorcery and Witchcraft in the Case and that under pretence of guiding me unto M. Descartes's World they design'd to convey me to the Witches Sabbath On the other hand I fear'd to affront these Gentlemen-Spirits who for the most part understand not Will and Humour And my Memory furnish'd me with a parallel Case of some certain People cajol'd with the pretence of such sort of Mysteries till having learn'd a part and refusing to go on they had their Neck writhen by the Devil or his Accomplices I renounc'd all manner of covenanting in my self and made use of all the Precautions my Prudence could suggest in that Conjuncture after which I spoke to them as fairly as I could in this manner Gentlemen you make Profession of a Sect that gives it as a Maxim That a Man must not assent to any thing but a Truth fully and clearly manifest And that it is distinguishes you from all others and especially the Philosophers of the Schools The Conversation I had with this Gentleman a fortnight ago and the Critical Reading of M. Descartes since joyn'd with the present Circumstances create some Scruples in my Mind of which I should be glad to be clear'd before we go any farther Will you take kindly what I shall propose We will hear you readily answer'd they and you shall have the satisfaction you demand Only settle and compose your self for you seem a little disturb'd And resolve your self you need not fear and that you shall receive no harm Those last Words a little reviv'd me and I began to speak with a more steady Voice It is not many days since I read in M. Descartes That the Essence of the Soul consists in being a thinking Substance and that she hath neither Extension nor Figure nor Colour which I know not how to reconcile with what I see at present For you give me to understand you be purely Spirits yet I perceive in you different Colours and I see you form'd in the Figure of a Man and you look like Beings that are extended Rid me I pray you of this Perplexity Father Mersennus presently took the Word What you propose said he stands to Reason But it is easy to answer you and plainly to expound the Thing by the evident Principles of true Philosophy It is certain a Soul is essentially a thinking Substance and that she is neither Figur'd nor Colour'd We are purely Spirits indeed and though we seem to have a Face and Hands and Feet yet we have neither Face nor Hands nor Feet He must be as addle-brain'd as was Tertullian and bent on Error with as great a Zeal as he when he ingag'd himself in that Affair Who thinks the Soul is not only Corporal but has also Parts proportion'd to the Body which she animates and is therein just as a Sword is in the Scabbord His devout Spirit that saw Souls of a blew Colour in his Prayer had topsyturn'd his Mind upon that Subject To make you therefore comprehend how you see us Colour'd Figur'd and Extended with Face Hands and Feet though we have neither Extension Colour Figure Hands nor Feet you must know your Soul whilst she is united with the Body cannot behold another Soul so as in her self she is cannot hear her Speak or to explain my self more justly cannot have the immediate Communication of her Thoughts To the end then you might know that we are here and that we might make you understand our Thoughts and the Design that brought us hither it was expedient to make use of means proportion'd to the Capacity your Soul at present's in Now I would not have you imagine that for this purpose I was forc'd to frame my self a Body of some Matter But only call to mind what your reading of M. Descartes ought to teach you That to see an Object with regard unto your Soul is nothing else than to perceive the Extension Figures and Colours of that Object That that perception is not caus'd immediately by the Object which being at a distance from our Body and our Soul cannot act upon them of it self That therefore 's done by the Reflection of Infinite Rays of Light which rallying from every part and every point of the Object strike and make the several Threads to quaver of which the Optick Nerve's
the Warantee because the best of his Disciples have awarded them unto him with an universal Consent He hath thought fit to declare himself on the first occasion and to intreat the Publick as also those Gentlemen the new Philosophers to do him Justice in that Particular He protests then to separate his Interest in many Articles from theirs that style themselves his Disciples He declares that in the Questions of the Schools many things go under his Name which are none of his as is for Instance that most Childish Notion of the Horror of a Vacuum That he himself hath certify'd and prov'd by Experience the Pressure of the Air which at this Day is made a Principle in the Physical Expilcation of such Phenomena's as have most alliance to the Question of a Vacuum That he is no ways the Father of an infinite little Beings introduc'd in the School Philosophy That his Writings have often been mis-interpreted and Men have commonly taken for Natural Beings what in his Idea were only Denominations and Metaphysical Attributes This Calm continu'd he with which I speak after that ungovernable Obstinacy you formerly knew me guilty of might stand for my Credentials as to you in Aristotle's Absence But I will farther add that since you meet him out of the Globe of the Moon he hath dispatch'd an Express in which he gives orders that if you pass'd this way I should not fail to inform you of his Thoughts and Intentions and to let you know that whatever Warmth appear'd in him in his Discourse against Descartes he would notwithstanding gladly hearken to some Accommodation with him Furthermore this is no unpremeditated Resolution The Expedient has been form'd and written long ago and the Fault will not be ours if you do not see it and take upon you the presenting it to Descartes if you so think convenient We return'd we most joyfully accepted it and that we thought our selves happy any ways to contribute to the Reconciliation of the two greatest Philosophers the World has known and the Reunion of two Parties that were at present the only considerable in Europe He took forthwith out of a Cabinet that was at the end of the Hall and where upon handsom Shelves stood a good sight of Books excellently bound and that look'd exactly like Books the new Philosophers have compos'd within this thirty or forty Years and that Aristotle and Voetius had undoubtedly read he took I say from a Cabinet a kind of Memoirs with this Title in Latin Words De Consensu Philosophiae Veteris Novae We have said I an Ingenious Man of our World that has wrote a Book with the same Inscription M. Du Hamel I my self have read it he replyed and a Man may easily see by the way it is wrote in the Author is well vers'd in all parts of Philosophy He is a Gentleman unbiassed as to one side or other is throughly acquainted with the Interests of each Party and therefore the fittest Person that I know to mediate in that Affair A preliminary Point is taken from his Preface which is much in the right on 't and whereto Aristotle and Descartes must forthwith accord that the Sect-Leaders of Philophy Neque omnia neque nihil viderunt With that he presented us the Project of Accommodation and desired us to read it at our leisure in our Voyage as also to take with us as we had offered at our Arrival some Aristotelian Souls to accompany us to Descartes's Place of Residence to the end he might know by them what that Philosopher had resolv'd upon the Propositions laid down in that Treaty We thanked him for the Honour he did us in intrusting us with so Important a Negotiation assured him we would do all that lay in us towards the facilitating its Success and after much Expression and Acknowledgment of his Civilities we beg'd his leave we might persue our Voyage since we had a vast way still to go and had spent many Hours in that we had pass'd already He conducted us out of the Lyceum and giving some Instructions to two Souls of the Country that seem'd Spirits of Note and Fashion ordered them to wait on us so made his Conge Designing to run over that whole Hemisphere of the Moon that is oppos'd to our Earth we kept on our Road to the North and leaving Democritus on the left we pass'd through Thales and drove on quite to Zoroaster from whence we made a double towards the West through desert Lands where we saw the ruins of some ancient Towns as of Atlas Cepheus Hermes without meeting Man Woman or Child till we came to the Lake of Dreams on whose Banks we found three separate Spirits with whom we were taken up one Moment in Discourse as we passed along We surprized the two first stoutly Cursing and Banning their Wives they had formerly in the World One of which was that Hermotimus mention'd by Tertullian and Pliny who leaving his Body abed to make a Ramble as his Custom was his Wife that did not love him slipt not the opportunity of calling up her Servants to whom she shewed not without tearing her Hair and playing the Mad-woman the Body of her Husband unsoul'd and breathless and carried the Humour on so well that the Body was burnt according to the custom of the Country before the Soul return'd who was from thenceforth forced to seek another Habitation The other Spirit was a Roman Senator whose Name was Lamia whose Wife had trickt out of the World by the same Project though a little more it had miscarried For as he related it The Soul being returned to look its Body where 't was left not finding it and seeing the Family Mourning begun to smell how the Matter stood It Posted presently to the place where was built the Funeral Pile to burn the Body and arriv'd there just as the Fire began to seize it The Soul thought it inconvenient to reunite her self with it for fear it might be obliged to be burnt alive she only mov'd its Tongue so as many of the Standers by heard these Words twice distinctly repeated I am not dead I am not dead But seeing the Masters of the Funeral Ceremonies who had undoubtedly received an Item from the Dame unconcerned as ' ere she left it to be burnt and came to fix in the Globe of the Moon The third whom we found two Leagues farther in a ghastly Grot was the famous John Duns Scotus commonly called Scot or the Subtil Doctor He has pass'd for a dead Man unto this day on which Account some have given out most ridiculous Stories and highly disadvantagious to the Reputation of so worthy a Person and which have still been well confuted But the truth is that he is not dead and that having by the subtilty of his Mind found out the Secret so many others have procured his Corps was taken for dead and was buried in the absence of his Soul which took Sanctuary in the Globe
turn colour I could never have believ'd a Soul separate from the Body had been capable of such an Accident M. Descartes who was aware of it and well understood the cause left me for a moment to wait on Aristotle's Embassadors I knew not what Intercourse they had till the old Gentleman's Information on our return to th' other World He told me M. Descartes declin'd entring all Dispute and Business with them only assuring them he had not the least Design of making any Inroad into Aristotle's Dominions but that he thought it a difficult piece of Work to effect a through Accommodation and that it would be proper for each to preserve their Liberty in Opinion as before without being restless and concern'd to bring over that of others to it notwithstanding to the end their Voyage might not be wholly ineffectual he promis'd to see that the Cartesians behav'd themselves with greater Respect and Esteem towards Aristotle upon condition Aristotle would restrain the Peripateticks from flying out with that out-rage against Cartesianism To come to my Spiritual Metamorphosis I knew not the reason of that neither till my return and it was this We must suppose that as long as our Soul is united with our Body the most part of its Ideas and Conceptions depend on the disposition of our Brain The diversity of that Disposition consists as say the Peripateticks in the difference of the Species Apparitions or Images of Objects contain'd in the Cavities of the Brain or imprinted on its Substance The new Philosophers more truly say That those kind of Pictures are nothing but the Traces and Footsteps stampt on the Brain by the ordinary Current of the Animal Spirits that flow in great Plenty as in little Rivers and wear themselves a kind of Channel to which they usually keep In what way soever that different Disposition causes the different Idea's and different Judgments of the Soul for it is an inscrutable Mystery it is certain it is done and that different Ideas suppose different Traces So that should a dissection be made of a Peripatetick and a Cartesian Brain with the help of good Microscopes for the discovery of those Prints that are exquisitely fine one should see a prodigious difference in the Complexion of those two Brains I never indeed question'd that Truth but I thought that dependence of the Soul lasted no longer than it was in the Body and that as soon as the Separation was perform'd it had no more Correspondence with it But I experimented the contrary and my Fellow-Travellers assur'd me that so long as the Body has its Organs sound and free let the Soul be ten thousand Worlds apart it will receive the same Impressions as if it resided in it And that if M. Descartes's Snush had not lax'd the sensitive Nerves I should have seen whilst I was in Descartes's World all the Occurrencies the Eyes of my Body were presented with I should have heard every noise that beat upon the Drum of my Ears And so of all the rest So astonishing an Effect as this makes no Impression on Philosophical Souls For if they be Peripateticks they presently explain it by the Sympathy betwixt the Soul and Body of the same individual and if they be Cartesians they expound it by the general Laws of the Soul and Bodies Union which is in cause that God on occasion of such and such Motions made in the Body produces such and such Thoughts or Perceptions in the Soul and say they one of these Laws is That whilst the Organs of the Body are capacitated for Imployment the Soul wherever she is receives the Impressions of Objects that affect them it being as easy a thing for God to advertise the Soul of that Impression when she is remote from the Body as when present proximity of Place being wholly insignificant in the thing since according to them the Motion of the Organs is not the real cause that produces Sensations but only the occasional cause that is that which offers an occasion to God Almighty of producing them in the Soul My Old Gentleman then as I was saying in our Return confess'd the Trick Father Mersennus and himself had agreed to play me They had given Instructions before they departed to the little Negro that was commission'd to guard my Corps at such an Hour in which they easily foresaw we should be arriv'd to M. Descartes's World to take Care so to determine the Animal Spirits in my Brain as they might no longer keep the beaten Tracks they had been us'd to for the exciting Peripatetick Species in my Mind but to make them glide in such a Current as was necessary and as he knew how for the implanting Cartesian Ideas in their Room which he perform'd with that Dexterity that whether it was by the Legerdemain of Sympathy or by vertue of the General Laws of Vnion of the Body and Soul my Notions were all in an instant turn'd topsie turvy And I that a Moment since could see nothing in that Immense Space in which I was began to perceive Matter there and to be convinc'd that Space Extension and Matter were all one and the same thing After which as often as M. Decsartes bade us to conceive how such and such Motions were effected in Matter I saw them more distinctly than your most clarify'd Cartesians do your Chamfer'd Parts of Matter wreath'd in shape of little Skrews by the Struggle they have to squeez betwixt the Balls of the Second Element or to constitute a little Vortex round the Loadstone and to cause that wonderful affinity that is found betwixt that Stone and the Poles of the Earth and with it and Iron It is plain that an Universal Revolution of Ideas like this cannot happen in the Soul without causing an extraordinary Commotion in its Substance no more than a general Alteration of Humors can occur in the Body without a Change of its Constitution I was therefore infinitely surpriz'd at so prodigious a Change being wholly unable to give any probable Guess at its Cause but could not help attributing it to some Secret in M. Descartes's Philosophy who returning quickly after address'd me in a more Familiar Air than at my first Reception Well what shall we begin to fall to work upon our World I see you are at present capable and worthy of reaping that Satisfaction Monsieur said I I know not where I am nor what I ought to think of my self But certainly nothing can more effectually dispose me to a Belief that you are capable of becoming the Creator of a World than that Power you manifest over Spirits Yes Monsieur I acknowledg Space Matter and Extension to be the self-same Thing I see plainly in that Space Materials for the Building a New World and if you once accomplish so vast and prodigious a Work from this Time forward I renounce my Body to live here with you for ever and ever to the End of the World nothing seeming comparable to the
loose and independent of each other and so obedient to the Motions of the Celestial Matter have not been dispers'd by the rapidness of that Matter which they stemm'd as the Dust is scatter'd by the Wind But added they how is this Mass of Air at present driven along with the Earth by the Celestial Matter How has it all the same Motions Is it against the Body of the Earth or against the Globe of Air the Celestial Matter presses to give both one and the other a Diurnal and an Annual Motion Would not a Copernical Cartesian be hard put to 't to unperplex himself of this Affair I omit Monsieur many other Difficulties whose Solution probably I may find in the Answers your Goodness will I hope vouchsafe the others I have already noted in this Letter But for what remains I desire you to take the earnestness wherewith I write to you as an effect of that passionate Love you have inspir'd me with of Truth and especially to put a favourable Construction on my meaning I have only transcrib'd your Adversaries Memoire in their own proper Terms and Language and I presum'd the respect I ow'd you could not warrant my concealing or dissembling their insulting way of arguing Which will serve to let you know how much it is for my Interest and the Honour of our Sect not to suffer them to triumph long The great and important Business the production of a new World at present finds you joyn'd to the indifference you have always had and still have more than ever for the Opinions and Thoughts of Men might reasonably make you neglect and despise these mean and trifling Things But those extraordinary Instances you have given me of your Favour encourage me to hope you will have some Consideration of my Honour and will not deny me your Hand to raise me from the Ground where I must own my self a little foil'd and disheartned I desir'd the Reverend Father Mersennus to imploy his Credit with you to obtain this Favour and at once to assure you as I here do with all the Submission and respect I am capable of that I am with all my Heart and Soul MONSIEUR Your most humble and most obedient Servant and most zealous Disciple The INDEX PART I. THE different Relations given of the World of Cartesius Page 1 The Conversation of the Author with an old Cartesian and the occasion of his Voyage to the World of Cartesius Page 5 Cartesius his Design of finding out the Secret of the Soul and Body's Vnion as also that of separating and reuniting them when he pleas'd Page 9 Cartesius his Progress in the Study and Knowledge of Man Page 10 The Mystery of the union and separation of the Soul and Body found out by Cartesius Page 16 The use of the Mystery Page 19 That Cartesius is not dead Page 25 The Secret of the union and separation of the Body and Soul known long before Cartesius Page 30 Cartesius retires into the indefinite Spaces and makes preparation for the building of a World there like this of ours Page 31 The Author is invited by the old Cartesian and the Spirit of Father Mersennus to come to the building of Cartesius his World Page 37 The Author's discourse with the Soul of Father Mersennus Page 39 An Explication of the manner of the Apparition of Spirits Page 42 The adventure of a little Moor-Page to Regius Physitian of Utrecht formerly a Friend but afterwards an Enemy of Cartesius Page 45 The Author's Soul is separated from his Body by the secret of Cartesius Page 51 How according to the Principles of Cartesius all Bodily Operations may be perform'd as well in the absence as presence of the Soul Page 53 PART II. THE setting out of the Author with the old Cartesian and Father Mersennus for the World of Cartesius Page 56 What the Air is and of what parts it is compos'd Page 57 Wherein consists the sluidity of liquid Bodies ibid. Motion naturally and of it self is perpetual Page 61 The falsity of Cartesius's Axiom that there is ever an equal quantity of Motion in the World taking the word Motion according to Cartesius's definition Page 62 The way that Spirits converse with one another Page 67 The Travellers meet upon their Road Socrates Plato and Aristotle and upon what occasion Page 68 Their discourse with those Philosophers with some notable Particulars of their History Page 71 Aristotle refutes Cartesius his Method and Meditations Page 79 The old Cartesian and Father Mersennus railly upon the Sphere of Fire that Aristotle imagin'd Page 86 The Contradictions of Cartesius Page 89 His Disciples have indeavour'd to smother one of them in the French Translation of his Works Page 90 A Suit commenc'd formerly against the Cartesians relating to the Sphere of Fire Page 94 A description of the Globe of the Moon Page 97 Cyrano de Bergerac banter'd by Socrates his familiar Spirit in the Globe of the Moon Page 98 The inequalities observ'd in the Moon are partly Seas and partly Lands shar'd among the most famous Mathematicians and Philosophers as they are to be seen in the Maps of that Country ibid. The Traveller's descent into Gassendus and from thence to Mersennus Page 99 They Traverse the Hemisphere of the Moon that is opposite to our Earth Page 100 They are deny'd Admission at Plato and why Page 101 They arrive at Aristotle which they find strictly guarded as a Town under Apprehensions of a Siege Page 102 The Author finds there and knows again his Regent in Philosophy an old Professor of the Vniversity of Paris Page 103 A Description of the Lyceum of the Moon Page 105 The old Cartesian likewise remembers Voetius the greatest Enemy Cartesius had in Holland Page 108 Some particulars of the Life of Cartesius and his Adventures whilst he staid in Holland Page 109 The Character of Voetius Page 112 The Travellers Negotiation with Voetius for the re-union of the Peripateticks and Cartesians Page 119 A Project of Accommodation presented the Travellers by Voetius Page 122 They continue their Voyage with two Peripatetick-Souls that Voetius had deputed to accompany them to the World of Cartesius ibid. In their Way they light upon the Souls of Hermotimus and Ainia a Roman Pretor and Duns Scotus Page 123 c. The Dispute of the Peripatetick Souls with Father Mersennus and the old Cartesian concerning absolute Accidents Page 127 Cartesius his Explication of the Mystery of the Eucharist not Catholick Page 130 They meet with Cardan in the Globe of the Moon in the Peninsula of Dreams the reason of his Melancholy Page 132 The Travellers return to Mersennus Page 133 Their reading the Project of Accommodation given they by Voetius containing a Confutation of a great part of the Cartesian Philosophy Page 134 Cartesius's Demonstrations of the Existence of a God refuted by a Mandarin of China Page 158 The Arrival of the Voyagers to the World of Cartesius Page 172 PART III. CArtesius his Reception of the Travellers Page 174 The Discourse of the Author with Cartesius concerning the present State and Condition of the Cartesian Philosophy in our World Page 174 c. Cartesius his Thoughts of that famous Experiment of the Gravity of the Air said to be M. Paschal's whereof Cartesius pretends to be the Author Page 181 His Sentiments formerly of the Book of Conick Sections said to be wrote by M. Paschal at sixteen Years of Age Page 182 The Extravagant Praises of M. Paschal's Panegyrists and of the Preface to the Book concerning the equilibration of Liquors Page 185 Cartesius his Projects for propagating his Philosophy whilst he was in our World Page 190 How he designed to get the Jesuits on his Side and then the Fathers of the Oratory and M. Arnauld ibid. Decrees of the Congregation of the Oratory against Cartesianism and Jansenism Page 193 The great Contest betwixt Malbranche Father of the Oratory and M. Arnauld The Character of the former Page 196 M. Arnanld compar'd with Admiral de Chatillon Page 201 Cartesius builds his World before the Travellers and as he builds it explains to them the chiefest Points of his System Page 207 The Confusion of Aristotle's Embassadors Page 221 The Return of the Travellers and Arrival to our World Page 238 In what Condition the Author's Soul found his Body she is seated in quality of a Cartesian Soul upon the Pineal Gland of his Brain Page 239 PART IV. THe Zeal of the Author converted to Cartesianism to promote the Sect and which he expresses in a Letter he wrote to Cartesius after his Return Page 242 He is much perplexed by the Ingenious Peripateticks Page 243 The Ordinary Arguments against Cartesius his System propos'd and refuted Page 244 The Author sometimes sides with Cartesius to refute him more easily Page 246 Motion of Matter seems not impossible in the Cartesian System Page 248 A new Method of proving it possible Page 250 Other Difficulties drawn from Cartesius his own Principles proposed by the Peripateticks to the Author whose solution he desires of Cartesius Page 259 The first Argument That by the Principles of Cartesius the Sun and Stars may be prov'd opaque Bodies as are the Planets of the Earth Page 260 Argument 2. That by Cartesius his Principles we could not see the Stars nor the Sun it self Page 265 Argument 3. That Cartesius his Principles supposed it is impossible for the Earth to have a particular Vortex in the great Vortex of the Sun Page 276 The Consequence of the preceeding Demonstration in Astronomy and Physicks The Moon could no longer turn about the Earth nor the Satellites of Jupiter about him Page 287 Heavy Bodies would not descend to the Centre of the Earth but would fall towards the Sun ibid. There would be no flux or reflux of the Sea Page 289 The General Principle of all the Physical Effects of the lower World quite over-turned Page 291 Cartesius his Inconstancy concerning the Properties of his Elements Page 293 The Physical Arguments that are weak against Copernicus touching the Motion of the Earth are strong against the Cartesians Page 294 Propositions of very great importance in Physicks advanced without Proof and supposed against all Reason by Cartesius Page 296 The Author importunes Cartesius to send him the Solution of all these Difficulties Page 297 The END
Principle as the Indivisibility of the Soul it was easy for him to prove she kept her Court no where but in the Brain There it is that the Nerves do center or rather from thence they have their Origin It is there that the Philosophers if you except a few and in those Vanhelmont who seiz'd with a Whim plac'd the Soul in the Breast it is there I say that the Philosophers generally agree to be found that which we call the Common Sense that is to say the only place where the Soul can be advis'd of all the different Impressions that external Objects make upon the Senses But since the Brain is of large Extent and besides that soft and whitish Substance which commonly goes by that Name hath Membranes Glands Ventricles or Cavities it was something intricate to resolve and precisely to determine in what place the Soul was seated M. Descartes throughly examin'd the different Opinions of Philosophers and Physicians thereupon and after having solidly confuted the greatest part of their Sentiments that were founded upon but weak and unsound Principles he evidently concludes The seat of the Soul must have three Conditions First it must be one to the end that the Action of the same Object that at the same time strikes two Organs of the same Sense should make no more than one Impression on the Soul as to instance she might not see two Men where there was but one Tom. 2. Let. 36. Secondly it must be very near the Source of the Animal Spirits that by their means she might easily move the Members And in the third Place it must be Moveable that the Soul causing it to move immediately might be able to deter mine the Animal Spirits to glide towards some certain Muscles rather than others Conditions no where to be met with but in a little Gland call'd Pineale or Conarium situated betwixt all the Concavities of the Brain supported and incompass'd with Arteries which made up the Lacis Choroides It is that Lacis we may be assur'd that is the source of the Spirits which ascending from the Heart along the Carotides receive the form of an Animal Spirit in that Gland disengaging themselves there from the more gross parts of the Blood and from thence they take their Course towards the different Muscles of our Body partly dependently partly independently on the Soul as the Author of Nature has order'd it with reference to the end he propos'd to himself in the production of Mankind So far M. Descartes took Reason along with him for his Guide and for ought I know he might have stop'd there had not Fortune or rather the good Providence of God who often encourages the laudable Curiosity of those that apply themselves to the consideration of his wonderful Works reveal'd to him in an extraordinary manner the Secret that he was in search of And that was without doubt one of the most strange Effects of the desires of a Philosophical Soul P. Malleâ— branche which a famous Author stiles a Natural Prayer that never fails to be heard when it is joyned with a prudent and exact Management of our Reason Should you believe me added he if I should tell you M. Descartes had often Fits of Extasy Why not Said I that 's no such incredible thing of so Contemplative a Man as he was nor is it a Case without a President Who has not heard of those of the famous Archimedes in which he often lost himself through his vehement Application to Mathematical Speculations and in one of them his Life Syracuse being taken by the Roman Army whilst he was drawing Figures in his Chamber with that earnestness of Mind the Tumult of a Town taken by Storm was not loud enough to wake him And he sooner was run through by the Soldiers that had forc'd his House than he was apprehensive of their Approach Alas reply'd he with a Sigh you 'll see in the Consequence of what I am relating That the Extasies of M. Descartes were no less fatal tho' they were not of the same Nature and proceeded from a far different Cause It happen'd one Day whilst we were at Egmond a little Town in Holland which he delighted in that he entred his Stove very early in the Morning which he had caus'd to be built like that in Germany where he began his Philosophy and set himself to thinking as he us'd to do Two Hours after I came in I found him leaning over the Table his Head hanging forward supported with his left Hand in which he held a little Snush Box having his Finger near his Nose as if he was taking Snush As for the rest he was Immoveable and held his Eyes open The noise that I made in entring the Room not causing him to stir I had the Patience to observe him half an Hour postur'd in that manner without his perceiving of me In the mean while there happen'd an Adventure that much surpriz'd me There stood upon the Cornish of the Wainscot in the Stove a Bottle of the Queen of Hungary's Water I was amaz'd to see it descend whilst no Body came near it and to pass through the Air towards M. Descartes The Cork with which it was stopt came out of its own Accord and the Bottle fastning it self to his Nose hung there for some time I protest I durst have swore at that moment there had been no small Conjuring in the Business of our Philosopher and that some familiar Demon like that of Socrates had inspir'd him with all the fine Things he still had taught us But I was convinc'd not long after that there was nothing less in it and I desire you to suspend your Judgment thereon He awaken'd a little while after as in a start and striking his Hand upon the Table This time at last said he I have it I thought him still in a Dream And springing up forth with upon his Chair transported with Joy without seeing me he cut two Capers in the middle of the Room still repeating I have it I have it I burst out with Laughter to see that Frolick a thing not customary with M. Descartes being naturally of a Grave and Melancholy Temper who hearing and seeing me at the same time presently redden'd and afterwards fell a Laughing as well as I. And as I was urgent with him to give me the Reason of his Joy and Rapture To punish you says he for having observed an Indecorum unbecoming a Philosopher you shall not know 't so soon And with that he left the Room in which we were and entred into his Closet bolting it upon him Nevertheless two days after he imparted to me the Mystery We took a turn together out of Town and after occasional Discourse of several Things Well said he abruptly without recourse to Mercury's Caduceus I have found out the Secret not only of the Union of the Soul and Body but also how to separate them when I please I have experienc'd it already
That was the Product of the Meditation wherein you surpriz'd me the other day and when I seem'd to you to awake of a suddain I came farther a Field than you imagine He spoke this in so serious and positive a way that he seem'd to be in earnest It shall be your Fault added he if you are not convinc'd of the Truth of what I say and of the Experiment It is the most curious Secret in the World I am resolv'd to commit it but to very few but that Adherency which you have manifested until this time unto me will not suffer me to be reserv'd in any thing He went on without giving me time to complement his Generosity and related that extraordinary Event in all its Circumstances He told me that being six'd attentively upon the Question which the Princess Elizabeth had propos'd touching the Union of the Soul and Body and revolving in his Mind his former Thoughts upon that Subject in the midst of that extraordinary Application he found himself in such a strange Surprizal in an Instant that he was not capable when he told me of it to express himself clearly thereupon nor could he gain so distinct a Conception of it as when actually he was in it All that he could tell me was That it resembled a Trance because in that there is no use of the Senses one can neither See nor Hear nor Feel the Impression of External Objects unless they be extreamly violent and then there is an end of it But herein it was quite different since the Soul had Perceptions of it Self and was apprehensive of the Cessation of its Organical Functions Which in a Trance is nothing so That she was furnish'd with a World of Immaterial or purely Spiritual Notices of which he had sometime discours'd to us but in an abundantly more perfect and lively manner than when his Attention was disturb'd with the appearances of Fancy which constantly interrupt it That more Discoveries of Truth could be made thus in one Minute than in ten years by the ordinary means which Knowledg of Truth fill'd the Soul with so pure and satisfactory a Joy that nothing is more true than what Aristotle says likely upon the same Experience That the compleat Happiness of Man in this Life if there is any such thing consists in the Contemplation of God and Natural Beings But he told me he had no sense of that perfect Joy till he was fully enlightned upon the Point that then took up his Thoughts Which was done in a Moment He had the satisfaction not only to know but to be sensible in some measure of the Truth of the greatest part of those Things which had imploy'd his Meditations until that time and of the Evidence of the Idea's he had fram'd concerning the Essence of the Body and Soul to see her advanc'd upon her Pineal Gland he had conjectur'd and to see that the Union of the Soul with the Body was nothing less then that vertual or rather imaginary Extension by which she was suppos'd commensurate with the Limbs much less those imaginary Modes which the Schools makes use of to confound and plague the Conceptions of Youth But that which was of most Importance was to see that this Union was nothing in Effect but these actual Commerce and Correspondence the Soul and Body had with one another A Commerce that chiefly is maintain'd in this that the Nerves spread through the Body by their Vibration give occasion to the Soul of knowing the different impressions External Objects make upon the Senses and in that the Soul pursuant thereupon by the Motion she immediately impresses upon the Pineal Gland where all the Nerves concentre determines the Animal Spirits to their several marches through the Muscles to produce in the Body such several Motions as she shall please to give and especially those that are necessary to her Preservation After that pursu'd my old Friend M. Descartes entertain'd me with all that happen'd upon that occasion and all the other Reflections he had made The Principal of which was That his Soul in that juncture no longer perceiving the Motions external Objects caus'd upon his Body and by consequence that Commerce in which the Essence of Union consisted being broken she could behold her self as in a separate State though in the mean time she resided at her usual Abode that local Presence having the least share in her Union with the Body She then had a mind to disengage her self from the Body and see what would be the Event of that Separation No sooner had she wisht it than it was so And he farther experienc'd what he had often suggested to us before that if the Machine of the Body had all its Organs sound and free if it had its customary Heat in the Heart and Stomack the circulation of the Blood the filtration of the Humours and all those natural Functions all the Motions constantly perform'd in us without the notice of the Soul would go on as regularly in her absence as when she was there Moreover it fell out as she was busy in contemplating the operation of her Body at some paces distance from it a Fly fortun'd to tickle it in the Face presently the Hand rais'd it self to the place and unseated the Fly just as if the Soul had been actually in the Body So true it is that the greatest part of the Motions of our Body which we attribute to the Soul are owing to the sole Disposition of the Machine This Soul before she durst venture to wander very far from the Body made her entry and exit sundry times and judging by the disposition in which she saw it she might without any apparent danger leave it for some time she hazarded the undertaking a very long Voyage She arriv'd at Beitany in the Houses of her Relations and from thence she made a Sally unto Paris to the House of some other Acquaintance She was much concern'd to see that the People there had but an indiffernt Opinion of her Religion the Country M. Descartes had chose to live in and some unwaranted Inferences that one or other had drawn from his Principles had given occasion to those rash Censures It is notwithstanding true that all the time he liv'd and when he dy'd he was a sound and honest Catholick Finally such was the success the Soul found in her Rambles when separate from the Body that she could when she pleas'd in a Minute travel three or four thousand Leagues In so much that this of M. Descartes parting from Egmond about half an hour after eight in the Morning had travers'd all France in an hour and an half and was return'd at ten Bless me said I to my old Gentleman how expedient would that be for a Person that so passionately desires to see the Country as I do You shall gratify your Curiosity answer'd he but hear me out M. Descartes Soul being return'd from he Voyage in France found her Body almost in the
same posture in which she left it But as yet she was not fully Satisfy'd She was unacquainted with the way and means that led her into this Condition And she consider'd it was an hazardous Exploit and that being once united to her Body she might never for ought she knew be disjoyn'd again till Death should cause a final Separation She apply'd her self therefore seriously to consider the Nature of her Body and the disposition of all its Organs She found that the Nerves imploy'd in Sentation and those that serve for Natural functions as the beating of the Heart the circulation of the Blood c. were of a Nature quite distinct She saw that these were vehemently distended and she concluded it might be for the better communicating the Animal Spirits to the Muscles with which the Nerves are united and capacitating them to maintain and continue those natural Motions the Soul is not aware of when united with the Body and that on the contrary the Nerves made use of in Sensation and by whose Means the Soul received the Impression of Objects were almost all unbraced and lax which might prevent the Motion caused by the Impulse of Objects from being continued unto the Seat of the Soul The Difficulty was to find the true Cause why one should be taxed without the other and how she might bring it about to distend those that formerly were laxed Mean while the Snush-Box which I mention'd his Body held in its left-Hand made M. Descartes call to mind That before his Extasie he had taken Tabaccco-Snush and he could not tell but so extraordinary an Effect might have been produced by the Vertue of that Tobacco That which he took of was an unusual kind which a Merchant of Amsterdam had brought over from an Island near China and presented him It was extreamly strong and M. Descartes to mollisie it had mix'd a certain Herb in it dryed to Powder whose Name he never would acquaint me with nor the Place where it grew though he presented me with a great Quantity of the same He laid a sufficient Dose upon the Back-Side of his Hand and gave it his Body to take and at the same Time happen'd this prodigious Effect in his Brain for all the Vapours raised there since his last taking were dislodged and dissipated in an instant He observed it was only the Particles of the Tobacco that scattered the Fumes of the Brain and that those of the Herb which he had tempered with it being not so fine and having very little Motion fastned themselves in the Nerves that cause Sensation and and made them looser than they were before Seeing that Effect he no longer doubted but concluded it to be the Herb which he mix'd with the Tobacco that caus'd his Trance and took away his Senses and that the Tobacco at the same Time unharbouring all the Fumes that might benight the Brain left the Soul with the entire Liberty of knowing and reflecting on it's self as she had then experienc'd After which he thought that Hungary Water was sufficient to brace the Nerves afresh that serve for Sensation since it is often used to recal those Persons that swoon away The Soul takes the Bottle I not long since mentioned and brings it in the Air from the far Side of the Chamber to his Body and therein consists exactly the Magick of which I then suspected M. Descartes guilty and moistens his Nostrils with it The subtile Vapour of that Liquor effected what he aimed at presently the laxed Nerves erect themselves and the Soul streight seats it self in the Pineal Gland and finds itself confederate with the Body as before It was in that instant I perceived Descartes to come to himself I told you he lock'd himself forthwith in another Room it was to make a second Experiment of his Tobacco and his Herb which succeeded to his Hearts Desire Since when it was a Business of nothing for his Soul to leave the Body and since his imparting to me the Secret his Soul and mine have made an hundred Expeditions together to instruct our selves of the greatest Curiosities in Nature As those that read the Works of M. Descartes are unacquainted with all that I have been relating they with just Cause are amazed at a thing which you will not startle at for the future I mean the Particulars he descends to in his Physicks concerning the Properties of his three Elements at how great soever remove from Sense they lie concerning their Figure their Motion their Rank and File in the Composition of his World and all particular Bodies concerning the Disposition of his Vortexes in which he proceeds so far as to observe the different size of the Balls of the second Element of which they consist Part. 3. Princip in their respective Places how those that come nearest the Centre of the Water are the least of all those that are a little removed are somewhat bigger increasing still in Bigness unto a determinate Distance after which they all are equal Concerning the Formation of their Parts chamfer'd in Fashion of a Skrew with which he explains the Nature and the different Phenomena's of the Load-Stone in a way so fine and easie Phoenomena's that till then had puzled and confounded all the Philosophers even those that had so ready a Method of explaining all things by the Assistance of their occult Qualities All this he saw intuitively and of himself and for me that speak to you is it possible to think That at the Age of seventy seven and being of so weak a Constitution as I am I say is it possible for you to think I should have lived to this and preserved my Health and Vigour as I do unless I had had a perfect Knowledge of the Machine of my Body Unless I had still silled and made up the Breaches whereat Life leaks and runs out continually I mean not in applying the Remedies that Medicine prescribes whose conjectures are so very uncertain and from the Use of which Monsieur Descartes has so frequently dissuaded the Princess Elizabeth Lett. de Descartes But in the Practice of that Critical Knowledge my Soul has of my Body of which she perfectly is and can be instructed as often as she pleases by putting herself in the Capacity I have now been speaking of I must acknowledg Sir replyed I then it is a most admirable Secret and of Infinite Use I am impatient till I learn it of you and as soon as I know it I am persuaded I shall improve it to as great a Benefit as Adam would have done the Tree of Life in Paradise if he had continued there And I doubt not but if Origen had known it he that looks upon the History of Scripture as Allegory he would have believed the Tree of Life to be nothing but this Mystery which God had communicated unto Adam But that which you was speaking of your Health creates one Scruple in me How Monsieur Descartes having
remember the Priviledg these Cartesian Gentlemen take who when perplex'd in answering the Argument brought against the Essence of Matter and drawn from the Sacrament of the Host think they have right to cry out They are injur'd That their Philosophy is sequestred from Things relating to Faith That they are Philosophers and not Divines and undertake the explaining the Mysteries of Nature not of Religion I would I say they 'd do me the like Justice or if they had rather the same Favour And supposing any one so Religious as to suspect me of the Heresie of those who say The Souls in parting from the Body are not doom'd for Eternity I wish he 'd consider once more that I am in this an Historian and Philosopher not a Theologist and give a Relation of Descartes's World am not making a Profession of Faith Which the Character of an History such as I am upon will bear far more independently of the Truths of our Religion than a System of Philosophy Any one that knows never so little must be forc'd to acknowledg this Which being once suppos'd I return to the Narrative of my Old Gentleman who thus went on M. Descartes's Soul returning to Stockholm found her self in the like unlucky Circumstances as did one Hermotimus mentioned by Tertullian L. de Anima who having procur'd the self-same Secret as Descartes left constantly anights his Body asleep in Bed whilst his Soul went a rambling through the World Both one and the other at their return found their Lodgings out of a Capacity to receive them The Task Descartes's Soul enjoyn'd her self then was to meet at Paris She would not tell me presently of the Accident but only invited me to take a turn or two No sooner said than done With one Snuff of the Tobacco I equipt my self to wait on her My Soul was no sooner out of my Body but she said in Language Spiritual she was about to tell me strange News I am says she no longer Imbody'd my Corps is this day to be interr'd at Stockholm and he gave me the Particulars of what I have been relating Nor did she seem sab or afflicted thereupon I then demanded of her if she experienc'd what the Philosophers report That the Soul being the substantial Form of the Body when separated for good and all is in statu violento She answer'd me she knew nothing of that violent State but found her self incomparably better out than in the Body And that she had but one Concern upon her to know in what part of the vast Space was best to settle her Abode in That she would take my Directions in the thing but that she found her Will inclin'd for the third Heaven The third Heaven according to the division Cartesius makes of the World is the last of all and that which is the farthest remov'd from us For the first is nothing but the Vortex in which is plac'd the Earth whose Centre is the Body of the Sun about which the Coelestial Matter that composes the Vortex carries us and makes us turn continually like the other Planets The second Heaven is incomparably larger than that in which we are and takes up all that mighty space in which we see the fix'd Stars which are so many Suns and have each of them a Vortex of which they are themselves the Centre as our Sun is of this Lastly the third Heaven is all that Matter or all that indefinite Extent which we conceive above the Starry Heaven and is void of Bounds and in respect of which the space of all the other may be consider'd as a Point Now many Reasons determin'd M. Descartes to choose his place of Residence in the highest Heaven The first was To avoid the Company of an Innumerable gang of Souls of Philosophers that were vaulting and fluttering on all parts of this our Vortex for to tell you by the way 't is incredible how many Souls we met upon our Journey And M. Descartes was much surpriz'd to see the Secret of which he took himself to be the first Inventer made use of in all times even by those of a very mean Quality whereby they have escap'd a dying or whose Souls have lost their Bodies by some Accident not unlike that of M. Descartes But that which made their Company so disrelisht and perfectly intolerable to Cartesius his Spirit was That these Souls so disentangled as they were from Matter were tinctur'd still with Prejudice wherewith they were prepossess'd when united with their Bodies That when he would have converss'd with them about the Principles of Bodies and the Causes of several Phoenomena's they faintly suppos'd to him or prov'd by the Authority of Aristotle substantial Forms absolute Accidents and occult Qualities as is done to this day in many Schools And except some few Souls of the highest Rank which he hath converted and proselyted to Cartesianism all are inveterate and inleagu'd against him with as immoderate Fury as the Philosophers of this World when he began to publish his Doctrin here The second Reason that byass'd him to that Election was because he look'd upon those indefinite Spaces as a new Discovery of which he was the Author For it was upon his forming a distinct Idea of Matter whose Essence consisted in Extension that he concluded Space Extension and Matter to be one and the same thing signify'd under different Names And being it was necessary to admit of a Space and an Extension above our World since we have a most clear Conception of them it was plain That above our World there was Matter too and as we can have no Idea of any Bounds or Limits that Matter has it is necessary it should be Infinite or rather Indefinite Finally the third and most prevailing Reason of all and which he intimated not to me until we arrived upon the place is that well conjecturing the Matter above the fix'd Stars to be uninform'd and not yet shap'd into a World he was in good hopes that he was able to set it to work himself and fancy'd that in dividing and agitating it according to his Principles he could reduce it to a World like this excepting that it would be destitute of real Men and only stor'd with Automatous Machines in their Likeness That Project was the Subject of the most part of his Books especially of his Book of Principles and that Entituled The World of M. Descartes We set out immediately for the third Heaven I shall not descend to the Particulars of our Voyage I hope in a few days you 'll bear me Company there your self I 'll only say that upon our Coasting we found all Things exactly in that Portrait we had drawn before without Form without due Order or any regular posture of the Parts as rude and unsightly Materials that require the Hand of the Artist We survey'd it all about and bewilder'd our selves a long time in the vast Deserts of the other World which perfectly represented to me
you of all Scruples and Disquiet in a word or two I 'll give you an Abbreviate of him This Little Black was formerly Valet to M. Regius the famous Professor of Physick in the Vniversity of Vtrecht who as is known Diverses letters de Descartes was then the intimate Friend Disciple and Admirer of M. Descartes Upon these Accounts he mexited the communication of his Secret for the separating the Soul and Body Since that they broke with each other in so much that M. Descartes thought himself oblig'd to Write against him Because he deprav'd his Doctrin and made it give Offence M. Regius who if Descartes's Character be true was none of the most Honourable and gentilest Gentlemen in the World to revenge himself and shew how he scorn'd and trampled on a thing Cartesius set so high a rate upon taught it this litle Negro One time above the rest he went to make use of it Returning one day from the Country where his Master had sent him much tir'd he sate himself under the shade of an Oak His Soul left his Body to its repose and rambled for Diversion I know not where Mean while some Highway-men kill'd a Man hard by him The Grand Provost who was near being advis'd of the Murder came speedily with his Sergeants The Noise they made was such that it awak't the Body of the Little Black And there happen'd something in the Adventure not unlike that I told you lately of Descartes For the Machine determin'd by the Noise and the strong Impression the Presence of arm'd Men made upon his Organ began to fly They pursue him overtake him and examine him He contradicts himself at every Word in his Answers which in the absence of his Soul were not likely to be very coherent The Grand Provost who was a little too expeditious in the Business took his Flight and the Astonishment that appear'd in his Countenance and his Words for an Evident convicton of the Crime and caus'd him to be hang'd upon a Tree as an Accomplice of the Murder'd that was committed The Soul returning not long after found her Body hanging in that rascally Posture of a Malefactour Forc'd then as she was to seek a now Abode she was in a miserable condition The majority of separate Souls which play in all the vast extent of the World being Souls of Philosophers and Souls of great Importance and having in a Convention held by the most considerable of them declar'd that Opinion of Philosophy true that holds an enequality in Souls of the same Species They would no ways admit that the Soul of an ignorant Negro should enjoy the same Priviledge as they and gave her chase throughout the Universe In short her good Fortune would that she should attempt to pass our Vortex and arrive at the very place Descartes's Soul had pitch'd upon to Meditate He had Compassion on her and allow'd her the liberty to live with him Father Mersennus brought her hither in Case there should be occasion and we 'll leave her with your Body to take care on 't The Retail of a Story so well circumstanc'd induc'd me to credit what was said as true I intreated both the Spirits to excuse the Transport I was guilty of telling them that the Figure and Colour he made use of to appear in being the same the Devil furnishes himself with all when he would be visible had imprinted on my Mind that horrible Idea I desir'd them to give me some Instructions how I must be rigg'd to accompany them in that wondrous Voyage that they propos'd saying I hop'd to make infinite Advantage of the Favour they vouchsafed me and in their Society to return so choice a Treasure of Knowledge as would distinguish me from the rest of Mankind Three things say's Father Mersennus you have to do The first is To dismantle your Mind of all the Prejudices of Childhood and the ordinary Philosophy For 't is strange to see how the Prejudices the Soul sucks in but by the Senses should make so deep impression on the Understanding with Time and Custom which she chooses for the Rule of her Opinions In so much that Souls separated form their Bodies otherwise than by Death although during that separation they act independently on the Senses do yet think judge and reason conformably to their prejudice Without that Precaution you 'l make a fruitless Voyage and be but where you are at your return The second Requisite before our embarquing is That you give Orders to this little Spirit after what Method he must treat your Body in your absence Whereupon it is advisable to let you know that when your Soul shall be in state of Separation all things will be carried on in the usual Road not only as to Natural Functions but as to those Motions caus'd by External Objects provided that you leave the Machine mounted in the same manner as it is at present So that if you us'd to wake and rise at the sound of an Alarm or at a certain Hour as soon as that Hour shall strike the Motion of the Timpanum of your Ears communicated to your Brain shall make way for the Animal Spirits to glide along the Muscles and to produce in your Legs and Arms and your whole Body such Motions as daily you your self produc'd for the taking of your Breeches then your Doublet and the rest of your Appurtenances after one an other and dressing you from Head to Foot It shall walk as it us'd to do traverse all the House upstairs and down It shall seat it self at Table as soon as the voice of the Page crying Dinner Sir is ready shall strike upon its Ears It shall Eat shall Drink and in a word perform every Action it has been accustom'd to the Animal Spirits never failing to take their course towards certain parts of the Body at the presence of certain Objects and by consequence producing always certain Motions in the Body in certain Circumstances Now in all External Actions that we do there is nothing but Motion produc'd this way And hence it is that Beasts who are undoubtedly as Meer Machines as our Body seem to us at the same time to act both with Variety and Uniformity The only Mischief that you need to fear is in case a Friend should come to visit you Because the Body without the Soul would be incapable to maintain discourse and must answer very impertinent to the Thing in hand For betwixt our selves it is only by Discourse that we Cartesians know that those Bodies we commonly call Men are truly Men and not meerly Machines Let. 53. de Desc Tom. 1. But herein it is this Little Negro will be serviceable M. Descartes hath taught him all the different Motions possible to be made upon the Pineal Gland and all the various Determinations of which the Animal Spirits are capable by its means And how the Words are form'd in the Mouth only by the motion of the Muscles that
stir the Tongue the lower Jaw and Lips And how particular Words are fram'd only by the certain Motions of the Muscles caus'd by that of the Animal Spirits according to the different Questions a Friend suppose that gives you a visit in the absence of your Soul should propound to you The Little Negro by the various Motions he shall then impress upon your Gland and from thence upon the Animal Spirits and Muscles shall form without failure in your Mouth the Words that ought to be spoke and such Answers as the Questions shall demand And fear not he should make your Body speak any thing unbecoming of your Soul For I 'll say that for him Negro as he is he is no Fool. You may take yet an other way It is but leaving your Body in the Bed where it is and in the Trance you 'l put it by the taking Snush for the separating of your Soul That Trance which consists in slackning the Sensitive Nerves is not attended with any further trouble Mean while this little Negro shall make your Figure and shall so exactly Personate you as if your Soul had made no expedition And in that there'l be no difficuty no more than is in my appearing in the Formalities of a Friar and this Gentleman 's in the same Physiognomy and dress you us'd to see him as I have but just now explain'd it to you And to observe to you by the by you see the Cartesian Philosophy teaches without any Sin what Apollonius Thyanaeus and many other Magicians could not do without first giving themselves to the Devil The third and last Thing you have to do is To take a little of the Gentleman's Snush which he has brought you so we 'll hoise Sale and stand off for the Road that will bring us to M. Descartes Having return'd thanks to Father Mersennus for the Instructions and Light he was pleas'd to give me I assur'd him as for the first Article I durst undertake for that I had all along been somewhat Sceptical in point of School-Philosophy and that my Mind was free from the contagion of Prejudice that commonly is caught there And as to the Prejudices of Infancy the reading M. Descartes had taught me to distrust them And that whilst he was Discoursing I had arm'd my self with a fresh Resolution of assenting to nothing but what I should most distinctly conceive following M. Descartes's advice I forbore to mention another Resolution I had made which was To fore-arm my self at least as much against the Opinionativeness of the Cartesians as the ordinary Philosophers well knowing they were as much conceited as their Neighbours Touching his Directions that respected my Body in my Soul's Absence I closed with the second Proposal Seeing said I Reverent Father it seems more simple and feasible than the former I like it well quoth he since 't is one of our Maxims in any System to choose the most simple way and that which costs least Trouble However that was not the Reason that resolv'd me but because I thought therein less Danger and was not so firmly persuaded that my Body would be so expert and active in the Absence of my Soul as was pretended and also because the Instance of Brutes which was urged made little Impression on my Mind unable to discard those Prejudices a Soul capable of Sense and Reason had confirmed I desired Father Mersennus to give Orders to the Little Black to sute himself with my Peson to see if it would fit him Forth with it was done and I beheld another me at my Beds Feet as the Sosia of Amphitryon saw another Sosia before his Lady's Gate at his Return from the Camp only with this Difference that I at my Bed's Feet asked very courteously to me in the Bed whereas the Sosia who return'd from the Army was well oudgelled by himself Sosia who stood before the Gate of Alcmena I recommended to him above all the fast bolting of my Chamber door that no Body might enter and the frequent visiting my Body Day by Day and admonishing him to take Care it might always lye in a Convenient Posture Upon my old Sophister's presenting me a Dose of Snush I demanded if it was the True For I remembred I had heard a Story of one Apuleius that one Qui pro Quo metamorphosed into an Ass at the same Time he expected to become a Bird. He told me he carried but one sort and that there was no Danger of Mistaking I then presently took it and sneezed God bless me three or four Times with mighty Violence Hereupon I fell into a Swoon like that of M. Descartes I described before and in an instant my Soul by the only Act of the Will perceived her enlargement from the Body I intend not to enter upon the Retail of Reflections I made upon my Soul and on my Body when they were divorced from one another I will only say I began from that Moment to perceive the Strength of Prejudice and Conceit in obstructing the Knowledg of Truth and how wise and rational is the Advice M. Descartes and his Followers give precautioning us on that Respect and yet at the same time how little Care those Gentlemen had to make use of the Rules they prescribe to others For the first thing my Gentlemen would persuade me whether I would or not was that my Soul in the instant of Separation saw herself seated on the pineal Gland As I judged it unfitting to begin with them by a palpable Contradiction I made answer That the Separation was performed so heedlesly I had no Time to make that Observation What I said was true and was also the least disobliging Answer I could find for I perfectly remembred and was throughly convinc'd of what I had lately read in M. Stenon the great Anatomist who was a great admirer of M. Descartes and look'd upon him as the ingenious Contriver of a Novel Man Anatomie du cerveau but shew'd and prov'd by ocular Demonstration this Man of his a quite different Creature from that which God Created And that the pineal Gland has not the Situation much less is capable of those Motions attributed to it upon that Hypothesis That the Vessels with which it is encompassed are not Arteries which might supply it with the Matter of the Animal Spirits as M. Descartes supposes but only Veins that by consequence the Honour and Priviledge it has given it of being the Closet of the Soul is without Foundation and that perhaps it deserves not to be advanced upon any more considerable Employ it has above the other Glands whose Office is usually of no great Importance in an Animal Body These were my Thoughts though I kept them to my self and I was desirous as much as possible to accompany them in their Sentiments I first observed to them how Digestion was performed in my Body though my Soul was absent by the only Vertue of that Acid Humor in the Stomach which by
Truth and assure your self I shall wholly resign my self up unto her so soon as M. Descartes shall present her to me After that Protestation which seemed a little to reinstate me in their good Oponion we launch'd again And it will not be amiss to advise my Reader here this once for all That whatever Room these Harangues and Disputes take up upon the Paper they lasted but one single instant since separate Spirits entertain each other a quite different way from that they use when in the Body whose Tongue pronounces but one Syllable at a Time one Spiritual Word that a Separate Soul shall speak unto another Soul is more full and expressive than a thousand pronounced or written And since my taking of this Voyage I have made a World of fine Discoveries for the explaining the Way that Angels discourse together I question not but to be in Print some Time or other upon that Occasion I confess I shall speak many Things that for want of Use will not be understood but my Book may find no less a Welcome and Esteem for that but rather the good Fortune Books of Mysterious Divinity have met with that have been for some Time the only ones in Fashion recommended meerly by their being unintelligible to those that read them and pretending to be understood by the Composers for it is known by too manifest Experience the Authors of those Books are not always such mighty Saints as they would seem We parted then from the Top of the Tower before the Instrument desisted from its turning and we steered towards the Globe of the Moon My Soul perceived an unspeakable Pleasure to scud it in the Air and to wander in those vast Spaces she could only travel with the Eye before when united with the Body that minded me of a former Delight I had sometime tasted in my Sleep in dreaming that I whipt through the Air without ever touching Ground above which I thought my self exalted many Yards We met upon the Road vast Troops of Separate Souls of all Nations Laplanders Finlanders Plaus mag 〈◊〉 c. 17 â—â—rt de â—aima Brachmans and I then remembred what I had read in several Books That the Secret of separating the Soul and Body was known among those People But about fifty Leagues on this side that Planet there is a Region very well stock'd especially with Philosophers and those Stoicks for the generality And quite from that Place to my Arrival at the Globe of the Moon I descryed how swingingly History belies an infinite Number of Persons that it supposes dead like other Men though in truth they are no more Dead than M. Descartes himself I shall discourse with some of them as I go along The Moon has an Atmosphere like the Earth that by a moderate Computation may amount to three French Leagues in height As we were just ready to strike Sail we made a good Distance from us three Souls that held a very serious Conference together we judged they might be Souls of Consequence by the deference many others in their Retinue seemed to pay them Upon our enquiring who they were we understood they were Socrates Plato and Aristotle that were met in Consult for the Publick Interest for that being advised by certain News from our World That the Venetians had beaten the Turks not only out of Ancient Peloponesus but also the Famous City of Athens where heretofore these three Philosophers had made so great a Figure they had resolved in their Debate so soon as any Noble Venetian's Soul should arrive in these Quarters to petition her to recommend their Interest to General Morisini and the Republick's Consideration To require the replacing the Statues the Athenians had erected to them To re-establish the Academy and the Lyceum with all their Priviledges and to restore the Marbles in the Prytaneum whereon was engraven the Justification of Socrates with the Execrations charged on Anytus and Melitus his Accusers And in case they should push their Conquests as far as Macedonia to have as great regard for Stagyra at present Liba nova as Alexander the Great had formerly on the account of his Master Aristotle whose Country that was I am surprized says Father Mersennus to see these Philosophers I never heard any Mention of them here nor did I ever meet them in all my Travels It is true I have observed in my Commentaries upon Genesis That Plato and Trismegistus used to quit their Bodies the better to contemplate the Sovereign Good and that Socrates as Alcibiades relates in Plato had from Time to Time such sort of Extasies 'T is true also I never took Aristotle for so great a Fool as to throw himself headlong into Euripes for the Madness and Despair of being unable to comprehend the Flux and Reflux of the Sea And many things I have read in that Philosopher induced me to suspect he knew the Mystery of Separation but I never thought to inform my self whether these Gentlemen made use of it to prevent their Dying You 'll see he added that as M. Descartes has determined to put the Project of his World in Execution that he framed while he lived on Earth so Plato will resolve upon the Undertaking that of his Republick which we shall see fix'd somewhere in those Vast and Desart Spaces above the Heavens where he will convoy a Colony of Separate Souls to constitute his Government That supposed said my old Gentleman Lucian had but ill Intelligence from the other World since in his Dialogues of the Dead he often talks of Socrates as a Man that had passed the Stygian-Lake in Caron's Boat and as an old Inhabitant of Hell Nouveaux Dial. des Mor. But what Gentlemen said I do you say of our Modern Lucian I mean the Author of the New Dialogues of the Dead that without farther Ceremony places Monsieur Descartes in Hell and brings him on the Stage discoursing with the pretended Demetrius of Moscovy Is it reasonable to think That Author upon his entertaining us in that Work with some pretty Things and diverting us with an abundance of choice Historical Observations to think I say under that Shelter he had Right to put off all the Frolicks of his Imagination without any regard to Truth To place M. Descartes in Hell at the same Time he 's above the Heavens is not this to express my self in the Quodlibetique Style of our Friend M Aberrare toto Coelo In the interim we saw the three Philosophers advance towards us 'T is known they were three of the finest Gentlemen that have bore that Character in Antiquity and that they have always been distinguish'd from that Rascality of Sophists and Cynicks that generally were meer Andrews and only purchased the Reputation of Sages at the Expence of the most abusive Extravagances Socrates made the Address and in a most obliging manner told us He easily perceived we were of France not only because we came that Road but also that he saw
in us the Character and Genius of the Nation which People was the most polite at present in the World that though he had but little Commerce with our World he had yet enough to be certified of that Particular He demanded the Occasion of our Voyage and where we were a going Father Mersennus took the Word and made answer We were upon a Visit to a Friend of ours that lived at a vast Distance that we were happy in timing our Voyage so exactly as to have the Opportunity of paying our most humble Respects to those Personages that have given Renown and Glory to Antiquity and whose Names after the Tract of two thousand Years were still acknowledged and held Venerable by all the Nations in the Earth 'T is believed below we are dead said Socrates True replyed Father Mersennus and I my self was guilty of that Universal Mistake But here are two Gentlemen continued he meaning us that are still Inhabitants of the lower World and who will undeceive it as to that Particular I shall not be sorry for my part answered he and it would not be amiss to acquaint the People there That the Soul of a Philosopher such as I am staid not to be dismissed from the World by the Decree of a Faction of Corrupt Judges and the Clamours of a Multitude incensed by the Envy and Buffoonry of a Coxcomb of a Comedian Hear the State of the Matter well knowing the Rage and Popularity of my Enemies I thought it not worth while to stay but quitting my Body I gave Orders to my Familiar Spirit to enter in my Room and to put a good Face upon the Business to the End being more Secure of his Performance than my own whatever Constancy and Resolvedness I found in my self He acted his part to a Tittle and I scarce think 't is yet forgotten in the World what Constancy appeared both in my Looks and Words when the Sentence of my Death was heard pronounced with what Undauntedness I was seen to take from the Executioner the Hemlock-potion that poisoned my Body and the Fury of my Accusers that were ready to burst with Malice to see me a Philosopher to the last It is true I replyed that last Action of your Life has procured you a vast esteem among Posterity to this Day and I question whether it will make for your Glory for us to publish the true Matter of the Fact as you have related it No matter said he I have still a greater Love for Truth than my own Glory and am more concerned for Her than for my self Most bravely answered I cry'd and worthy of your self That one Sentence is worth all the Oration your Demon harangued your Friends with to comfort them in your Death and I am resolved it shall lose nothing of its Value in the Carriage If one fine Wit of our World had but heard it he would certainly have canonized you for 't he I say that in reading your Story was much put to 't to forbear an Invocation and crying Sancte Socrates ora pro nobis That Extravagance is known to be Erasmus's and Socrates himself thought it very impertinent Aristotle next obliged us to disabuse the World of those false Reports that were current of his Death some making him dye of the Colick others affirming he poisoned himself others again That he drowned himself in Euripus these last came nearest to the Truth He told us then That being disgraced and banished from the Court upon Suspicion he was dipt in the Conspiracy of Calisthene his Friend against Alexander he retreated to Athens where he opened his School of Philosophy That he was there impeached of Atheism as groundlessly as Socrates by a Priest of Ceres which obliged him to retire to Calcis That one Day as he was taking a Turn upon the Bank of Euripus and recollecting in his Mind the glorious Advantages he had lost of making his Fortune seeing all his Hopes unravelled that he was for ever discarded from the Court and discharged from Athens the Melancholy that seiz'd him made him resolve to leave the World that to that intent he made use of the Secret Aesculapius had left him from whom he had the Honour to descend in a Right Line by his Father Nicomachus formerly Physician to his Majesty King Amyntas the Grand-Father of Alexander he made use of it I say to separate himself from 's Body which he left in a Place where the Sea in a high Tide chanced to carry it off Upon the finding of his Body drowned every one made his Conjecture The Court that understood what Impression Disgrace would make upon the Spirit of a Courtier whose Nature it is more than may be supposed upon Temptation to dispatch themselves out of the World concluded very rationally on the Point but the Opinion of Aristotle's Disciples carried it At that Time he was about explaining the Phoenomenon of the Flux and Reflux of the Seas He had confess'd contrary to his custom that he did not throughly apprehend it And that vex'd him to the heart Thence they readily concluded that the cause of his despair One of them confidently proclaim'd it in several parts of Greece And as if he had been behind him when he threw himself in the water added the words he spoke unto the Sea just upon his jump Since I can not comprehend thee thou shalt comprehend me The Antithesis seem'd very pretty That gave Legs to the report and by that Pass-port it arriv'd to us There is something strange and new in these Particulars as well as in the Story of Socrates And many of the Circumstances are left out in most of the Authours that have treated on this Subject That encourages me to hope they 'l meet with a kind Entertainment from the Publick since t is this that now a days lifts our Historians unto Reputation and sets 'em above the common herd of Writers And nothing takes so much as Paradox in History since a Manuscript that shall thwart the long receiv'd Opinions of Mankind is the only piece in fashion especially if slanderous and invective and the Extracts sent to the Compilers of the Holland-Journals and the News of the Republick of Learning to advance the Rate of these Books are fill'd with hardly any thing but rare and admirable Discoveries But t is not on the faith of Manuscripts I ground my Reports things commonly subject to be question'd but on the Testimony of the Persons mainly concern'd in the History and who have either done or suffer'd the thing therein related And I challenge all the Burnets in England to evince me false in any thing by all the Histories of the Kingdom of the Moon As for Plato he told us It did not so much trouble his Head what were the Sentiments of Men concerning him and thank't us for the offers of our Service that we made him But Experience convinc'd us of the truth of Father Mersennus's conjecture touching the Republick and also that
almost two thousand years For that many Stars that have formerly appear'd in the Heavens now disappear What 's become of the seventh Pleiade and of that seen the last Age in the Constellation of Cassiope And supposing any one since its ceasing to appear should bring his Action against Tyco Bruhe and others that observ'd it as false Intelligencers that thus'd the credulous World do you think it would not be thrown out And does not M. Descartes himself give us to apprehend that our Vortex infinitely greater than the Sphere of Fire shall be sometime swallow'd up when one least thinks on 't And when by that Absorption the Sun shall become an Earth and perhaps at once the subtil Matter which is confin'd in the Centre of our Earth forcing its Passage through the Crusts that cover it shall make that a Sun granting that the Books of M. Descartes existed in another Vortex where are Men would not they look on all he has wrote of our World as Fabulous and Romantick However granting that there never was a Sphere of Fire it was ever admirably suppos'd Never was System more exactly contriv'd than Aristotle's of the Elements They all are rang'd according to the Dignity or Meanness of their Nature The Earth as the most unactive and ignoble Element has the lowest Seat The Water less course and heavy than the Earth takes place above it The Air by reason of its Subtilty is exalted higher than the Water And the Fire the most noble and most vigorous of them all owns no Superior but the Stars and the subtil Matter in which swim the Planets The extent of each is likewise proportion'd to the Merit of their Nature Like Brethren they have divided the Estate of the four Qualities each of them has two one of which in the Superlative Degree The Earth is cold and dry the Water is cold and moist the Air is hot and moist the Fire is hot and dry And to the end they may bear up still in the perpetual Combats they give each other if the prevaling Quality of one 's more active the predominant Quality of the others put them in a good posture of Defence against the effort of their Enemy Could any thing be more justly or ingeniously imagin'd In fine with how many fine Thoughts has that Sphere of Fire and that orderly Disposition of the Elements furnished our Preachers heretofore and still supplies those of Italy But to mention something better in its kind that one Devise of Father le Moine of which the Sphere of Fire is the Substance deserves there had been one and would deserve there should be one still and that it should endure for ever Designing to signifie the more pure are Friendships the more durable they are he painted the Sphere of Fire with this Spanish Motto Eterno porque Puro This Fire 's Eternal because it 's pure What an unhappiness it is that that Thought so fine and solid as it is all over should at last be false for want of a Sphere of Fire Thus I was defending as well as I could the Peripatetick Interest whilst we arriv'd at the Globe of the Moon I shall not be tedious in giving a large Description of it since others have don 't before me I will only say that the Earth look't to us that view'd it from the Moon as the Moon appears to those that view it from the Earth with this difference that the Earth seem'd bigger far because it really is so So we judg'd that the Earth in respect of those that beheld it from the Moon had the same Phases as the Moon in regard of those that behold it from the Earth that it had its Quadratures its Oppositions its Conjunctions except that it could never be totally Eclips'd by the reason of its greatness in comparison of the Moon whose Shade could not have a Diameter so large as the Earth then in Conjunction The Moon is a Mass of Matter much like that of which the Earth is compos'd There you have Fields and Forests Seas and Rivers I saw no Animals indeed but I am of Opinion if there were some transported they would thrive and probably multiply Empire de la Lune 'T is false that there are Men there as Cyrano reports but 't was undesignedly that he deceiv'd us having first been deceiv'd himself One of the separate Souls which we found in great Multitudes and which were there at his Arrival told me the Original of that Error A great Company of Souls surpriz'd to see a Man with his Body in a Land where the like was never seen before had a mind to know the meaning of it They agreed together to appear in Human Shape to him They accost him and enquire by what Method he accomplish'd so great a Voyage Made him relate what he knew of our World and as he seem'd equally inquisitive as to the Transactions of the World of the Moon and the Life the Inhabitants led there the Familiar Spirit of Socrates who was among the rest took upon him to answer And having declar'd who he was as that Historian himself relates he made him upon the Spot a Fantastical System of the Republick and Society which is the same he gives us in his Relation where he seriously tells us There are Men in the Moon characters their Humour describes their Employments their Customs and Government But 't is worth the knowing that some Fopperies he has inserted he brought not from that Country as the Soul assur'd me and that many Profane Allusions and Libertine Reflections he there makes were only the Fruits of a debauch'd Imagination and a corrupt Mind such as was that Historians or of the Imitation of an Author yet more Atheistical than himself I mean Lucian one of whose Works was made the Plan to his History of the Moon The Inequalities we found in the Globe of the Moon are partly Isles wherewith the Seas there are pleasantly chequer'd and partly Hills and Vallies in its Continent They belong to several famous Astronomers or Philosophers whose Names they bear and who are the high and mighty States there We landed in Gassendi a Seat extraordinary fine and very apposite and such in a Word as an Abbot like Monsieur Gassendus could make it who wanted for neither Genius Art nor Science and who had no use for his Revenues in gaming treating and living high The Lord of the Mannor was then absent whom we should have been glad to have waited on since we heard that he still continu'd his Civility and Moderation which were his Natural Endowments And though formerly there were some Misunderstandings betwixt him and Cartesius yet he always very obligingly and with a Mark of Distinction entertain'd the Cartesians that came to pay a Visit and especially Father Mersennus who was his peculiar Friend He was a Man that equall'd M. Descartes in capacity of Genius excell'd him in the reach and extent of Science but was less heady and conceited
should be destroy'd and yet no other Body produc'd in its room Or thus which turns to the same Account I most distinctly conceive a part of Matter setting aside all others and I most distinctly conceive all other without that for Instance without conceiving the Air inclos'd in a Chamber My Hypothesis then is establish'd as well as the Consequences that naturally follow against your Opinion touching the Essence of Matter So that if you have any Inclination towards a Peace you will be content to say that considering Things in their natural Capacity Matter is necessarily extended but will willingly give up that Expression that hath disgusted all the World That Extension Matter and Space were all the very same thing That Insult which Aristotle made upon M. Descartes in bandying one part of his Principles against another worsted my old Gentleman's Patience and rattled him so that ' was ten to one but he had tore the Paper on the spot He propos'd our going off without acquainting Aristotle's Embassadors who were stragled a good way from us telling us the Company of such sort of Cattle was not very pleasing But we represented to him how dishonourable a thing and unbecoming of Descartes that would be That that Paper was not so much a Project of Peace as a Challenge and Defiance Aristotle had sent him that probably he might slight it and probably he might think it worth while to answer it That M. Descartes had so wonderful a Gift of persuading and captivating Spirits and the production of a World was a thing of that surprizing Nature that doubtless the two Souls that bore us Company must be converted to Cartesianism provided M. Descartes would be at the pains of explaining his System to them in a plausible and familiar manner These Reasons setled him again and we pursued in the reading of the Paper in expectation of the two Souls From the Essence of the Body and Soul Aristotle passed on to their Union and the Relations they have betwixt themselves He began with great Encomiums on M. Descartes for having opened the Eyes of the Philosophers and shewing them the Unusefulness as well as Absurdity of their Intentional Species in many cases alledging That he had taught nothing on that Occasion that ought to be held so strange and incomprehensible by the Peripateticks had not they deserted the Sentiments of their acknowledged Master to follow the Whimsies and Imaginations of his Commentators That he himself had remarked in many Places That the Sense of Feeling was dispersed throughout the Body and through all the Organs of the other Senses That Vision Taste the Perception of Sounds and Smells were only caused by the local Motion of some Bodies that touch'd and moved the Organs of the different Senses that in effect if that Motion were insufficient for the Soul 's perceiving Objects those intentional Species substituted in their Place would be as far from serving Turn That he was not for rejecting M. Descartes's Doctrin concerning the Seat of the Soul in the Pineal Gland were it proposed only as a pure Hypothesis since all that others say amounts to nothing better but it was insufferable that System should be urged as a setled and demonstrated Truth And that the Respect M. Descartes still pretended for Truth and Experience ought to make him qualify and moderate his Assertions thereupon He intreated him likewise to be more Human and good-natured towards those who taught the Soul was expanded through the Body and this is what he added to shew the Cartesians were a little Unreasonable in that Affair For said he when you assert the Soul is placed in the Pineal Gland either you suppose she takes up all the extent of that Gland or that she only possesses one indivisible part of it if she possesses all the Capacity of the Gland she herself must thence be extended for that Consequence entirely resembles yours which you draw against the Philosophers who make the Soul expanded throughout the Body If she only possesses an indivisible Part thereof there must necessarily be some part of Matter that is indivisible and not extended And thus in admiting that disjunctive Proposition you appropriate to the Soul what you affirm belongs to Matter only otherwise you grant an Attribute to Matter which on all other occasions you deny and pretend according to your Principles however we understand it that it is the only peculiar of a Spiritual Soul Besides all the Nerves where are the Radiations of the Spirits that enter in and out of the Pineal Gland can neither part from the same indivisible Point of the Gland nor meet there so that if the Soul was in an indivisible Point of that Gland she could not have the Perception of all Objects there But if you reply The Soul is not in the Gland as a Body is in another Body or as a Body is in a Place but that the Soul in quality of a Spirit is not in that Gland but because she acts there because she thinks there wills there and perceives Objects there and that since the Different Impressions of Objects terminate in divers Points of the Gland where she is advertised of them it may be said the Soul is in all the Gland The Philosophers that undertake you are ready to take you up with a fresh Objection For if the Soul acts wills thinks apprehends Objects in all the Gland that is to say in a very devisible Space and if that be sufficient to affirm she is in all the Pineal Gland it will be true according to their Hypothesis to say The Soul is in all the Body since it acts and perceives Objects in all the Body she sees them in the Eye as you say she perceives them in that part of the Pineal Gland where the Optick Nerve doth point or the Rays of the Spirits that proceed from that Nerve she perceives Sounds in the Ear or as you say she perceives them in another Point of the Pineal Gland where the Nerves do center or the Rays that serve for that Perception Thus that pretended Bug-bear of Philosophy I mean the Presence of the Soul throughout the Body that causes her to feel in the Hand when that is prick'd and makes her move it presently and withdraw it upon the Sense of the Compunction that makes her stir the Foot in order to advance methinks is no longer monstrous or frightful nor a Prejudice of Infancy evidently false seeing that Presence of the Soul throughout the Body is no other than that which is allowed her in the Pineal Gland the Pineal Gland being extended as well as the whole Body for the Diminutivenss of the Extension makes nothing to the Purpose Why therefore should that Vertual Extension of a Spirit be turned to a Jest and Ridicule when 't is the same as is admitted by the Cartesians when both are well explained and undoubtedly all the Sensations may very near be as justly explained upon this Hypothesis as upon that of
conducted us made us still leave from Time to Time the direct Road to fetch a Compass about and aim'd to keep us at a Distance from the Body of the Stars or to speak in the Cartesian Phrase from the Centre of the Vortexes I demanded the reason of his doing so telling him one of my greatest Curiosities would be to contemplate a Star at hand and to consider the Motion of the subtil Matter in the Centre of the Vortex and that that was the readiest way to convince me there were Vortexes such as Descartes has describ'd He answered it would be more convenient to satisfie my Curiosity as I returned after that M. Descartes had himself explained the different Determinations the Subtil Matter is capable of in a Vortex that thereby I should better take his Meaning and before that it would be but a new Subject of Confusion to my self and of cavilling to the Peripatetick Gentlemen It behoved him to hold to that and I had from thence forward but a very ill Opinion of the Vortexes of which I saw no likelihood in the Motions of the Matter at a good Remove from the Stars But at last we arrived to the Third Heaven which was the End of our Voyage The Occurrences that happened in my Stay there shall be the Subject of the Third Part of my Relation A VOYAGE TO The World of Cartesius PART III. THE Third Heaven of the World of Descartes is the same with what the Philosophers heretofore called the Imaginary Spaces but seeing the Word Imaginary seemed to import nothing but what was Chimerical and in the Imagination only he chose rather to term it the Indefinite Spaces There have not been wanting some that have started Difficulties upon the Term Indefirite which in several Places he seems to substitute in the Place of Infinite without any Necessity but at last his Disciples have made it al-a-mode and Custom hath warranted its Use As soon as I set Footing in those vast Regions I descry'd indeed the finest and most advantaglous Place possible to be imagin'd for the Building of a World in nay for the Construction of Millions and Infinite Worlds but I saw no Materials proper to begin or to make the least Part of so great an Edifice Having travell'd six or seven thousand Leagues without any News or Tidings of Descartes we agreed to separate our selves that we might find him out the easier Father Mersennus took one way the Old Gentleman and I with the two Peripatetick Souls the other In short Father Mersennus found him and quickly after we had parted we saw them both together making towards us The obliging way wherewith he receiv'd me certified me That Father Mersennus had given him a good Character of me and spoke of me as a Man that in Time would prove one of his most zealous Followers He likewise very respectfully saluted the two Peripateticks but gave them to understand the Pains they had taken in coming to treat of an Accommodation with him were manifestly to very little purpose That Father Mersennus had already sufficiently advis'd him of the Propositions they design'd to offer which he assured them he should not be very forward to condescend to notwithstanding he would give them a favourable Audience and satisfie them beforehand he had no iâ—â— Design upon the Kingdom of Aristotle thereupon giving Orders to Father Mersennus to entertain the two Gentlemen he accosted the Old Sage and my self in particular The Discourse began with the ample Protestations of Friendship M. Descartes and the Old Stager made each other mutually expressing the Joy they had in seeing one another The Old Gentleman out of hand took upon him to make my Elogy speaking a thousand fine obliging things of me to Descartes especially he cry'd up the uninterested Love I had for Truth the Desire of Learning that always had appear'd in me and the Readiness I had promis'd to imbrace the Instructions in the Inquest of which I had made so long a Voyage I wav'd as modestly as possible the other Praises that were given me but added That for the Love of Truth and Desire of Learning I must stand up as for my only considerable Accomplishments that as to the Readiness I had ingag'd to receive M. Descartes's Instructions that ought not to come into the Account since a Master of his Character and Worth and a Genius so Admirable and Transcendent beyond all others as his was had Right to demand and require that entire Submission from all that pretended to Wisdom or Equity in the World You are pleas'd to carry your Compliment a little too high reply'd M. Descartes and I question whether the generality of those that are reputed the Wise and Equitable Persons of the World would subscribe to that Homage and Submission you their Representative vouch for them I question too according to the Rules of Physionomy of Spirits whether I ought to build much upon that pretended Tractableness wherein you pride your self so much methinks I perceive still at bottom of your Soul some kind of I know not what Prejudices that indispose it for the Knowledg of Truth Tell me in â—â—holding this vast Space continued he what is' t you think you see Monsieur I reply'd that is a perplexing Question but to convince you that I speak from my Heart in promising to be instructive I will make Answer to your Question just as my Thoughts are of it According to you I ought to say That beholding the great Space I see a Body or Matter but without Dissimulation methinks in effect I see just Nothing At that my Old Sophister tipt the Wink upon me which I took not at that instant nor understood the Meaning of it till after 'T is enough says M. Descartes let us talk of someting else Give me an account pray how goes Philosophy in your World if you have any News of it for these many Years I have been ignorant almost of all the Concerns there as well from the Indifference and Disregard I have found in me ever since my quitting the Body for the Sentiments of Men as that Monsieur here who is the only Person that has visited me since having retired in the Country many Years ago has been incapable of hearing the Particulars of Affairs that concern Cartesianism contenting himself to learn and to assure me from Time to Time my Philosophy continued still to have very many Friends and very many Enemies And I am not much better instructed I answered with what regards your Sect having but begun to interest my self in its Affairs since those few Days I have had the Honour of this Gentleman's Acquaintance however I will inform you of all that I could hear or that has come to my Knowledg without giving my self much Trouble of Enquiry Your Philosophy as you know was set up with all the Advantages and Disadvantages of Novelty and it has experienc'd the Fortune which all New Doctrins use to find Many there are that
Euclide I say if such like things be once receiv'd for Truth the Publick will become the Subject and Game on which in a short time the most Romantick Panegyrists shall sport the Extravagancies of their Imaginations That way of praising is injurious to the Persons prais'd and a Commendation so improbable as that renders the Truths themselves suspected that shall be found in Company with it M. Paschal was a Man of a most exalted Capacity but was far from being an Angel or a Devil I told M. Descartes thereupon I chanc'd into a Company not long since where one was speaking much to the same purpose as he had done upon this Topick and there fortun'd a Gentleman to be there a Friend to a Society that was under no mighty Obligations to M. P. who seeing all People ridicule that Fable said in a careless leering Air that the Author of the Preface and his Friends did at most but Justice to M. Paschal and that they had rather been too backward in that they had said no more and as he was urg'd to unmask himself as to the meaning of a thing every one perceiv'd he was not very serious in he added That Hyperbole as extravagant as it look'd to him appear'd but a very mean return for the Obligations they were under for his Letters to the Provincial in which he had done 'em very signal Favours that were worth these and that were on a more important Occasion To which all agreed and 't was acknowledg'd M. Paschal's Services to those Gentlemen could not be repaid in a better Coin Yet I must needs tell you M. P. wrote only by the Memoirs that were given him and that he thought true as false and precarious as they were not knowing the Spirit of a Party wherein he was ingag'd Undoubtedly he was rather over-reach'd himself than any design he had to impose on others Let us say no more on this occasion and M. Descartes recall'd me to the Chapter concerning Cartesianism He inquir'd then what Strength he had in the Vniversities and most celebrated Colleges of France And how his Doctrin was look'd upon there I told him without Ceremony what I knew concerning it That I knew no College that openly profess'd his Doctrin that most of them were discharg'd from Teaching of it That in the Vniversity of Paris extream care was taken lest the Professors should give too much liberty on that side That Cartesianism had been the Debate of several Assemblies and how that I had heard from some Body that it had been talk'd of putting it down by an Act of Parliament it was propos'd to the late Chief President M. de la Moignon but that that Expedient was not prosecuted That the Vniversity of Caen which next to that of Paris is the most flourishing at least for Philosophy had in one Thousand six Hundred Seventy seven declar'd against that Doctrin and condemn'd it as contrary to Orthodox Divinity denying all hopes to any that should undertake to maintain it of their admission to any Degree in the Vniversity and forbiding all such as were already admitted the teaching it viva voce or by Writing upon pain of forfeiting their Priviledges and Degrees that the Example of Anger 's had been imitated therein that two years before had made the like Decrees which had been confirm'd by a Placart of the King put forth at Versailles in the year 1675. and that most of the other Universities had gone in imitation of the same Proceedings This News chaf'd M. Descartes And what said he has no one in these occasions undertaken my Defence Would no Corporation no Community declare for my Doctrin We have seen whole Orders take on them the quality of Scotists and Thomists and to carry the Interests some of an Universal a parte rei others of an Universal a parte mentis sometimes beyond the Bounds of a laudable Emulation whilst a Philosophy so Solid and Curious as mine shall be abandon'd to the Humours and Caprice of the Vniversities I had pardon'd the Hollanders that their ill-natured Behaviour who were not oblig'd indeed to have those Considerations for a Stranger as I was in respect of them but I could never have believ'd they would have treated me so in France my Native Country to which I am sure I have given much Honour and Reputation Why were my Bones translated from Sweden to Paris if at the same time they intomb'd them with Pomp and Funeral Elogies they blasted my Memory throughout the Kingdom I quitted it 's true the World a little with the soonest But after all I left it not before I had acquir'd a most wonderful Esteem I had taken infallible Measures for the securing my Party And my Affairs had never been reduc'd to so damn'd a Plight had my Disciples trod in my Steps and kept their Eye exactly on my Views and my Designs For I must confess said he I was not exempt from the Weakness and Blind Side of all Leaders of a Sect. I was concern'd for the Progress of my own though I feign'd to seem as indifferent for that as any thing else and the Hopes I had one Day to see it take Place of all the rest serv'd as an Incentive to encourage my Endeavours I had drawn up my self a System of my Management for the accomplishing my Design My first Prospect was that of cajoling the Jesuits and sounding them to try if I could engage them in my Interests or at least make a Party among them that would have been a Parting Blow indeed and my Affairs for ever after would have stood secure of any Rival or Competitor They are possess'd of the Colleges of the principal Towns in France and there are among them a great many Men of excellent Sense and capable of protecting my Opinions if once they were admitted I sent them my Works desiring them to examine them and assuring them Diverses Lett. de Desc Tom. 3. I would submit them to their Judgment Circumstances were very favourable at that Juncture their Provincial was my Countryman my Friend and my Relation My Regent in Philosophy who was still living and whom I had observ'd to be a better Naturalist than most of the Philosophers of that Time wished me very well In short I question'd not my Success but I was highly surpriz'd upon Father Mersennus his acquainting me from Paris that Father Bourdin the Mathematician of the Jesuits College had publish'd Theses in opposition to my Doctrin Those were the first that appear'd against me in France such a Thunder-clap as that gave me quickly to understand how the Society stood affected and how little Stress I ought to lay upon the Friendship of some Particulars Not long after the same Mathematician wrote against my Meditations in no very serious Style turning them to Droll and Ridicule which occasion'd on my part a very smart and vigorous Answer I complain'd thereof to Father Dinet in a Letter that I printed with my Meditations In
first is that what is in it more choise and better than ordinary begins to be authoriz'd in the Schools of the most zealous Peripateticks who no longer oppose the Truth that you have infus'd into them but only so husband Aristotle's Stake as it may not be said that ever any Philosopher had a clearer View than he You know the Adventure of the last Age in France the wisest Heads of the Kingdom could do no otherwise than approve the greatest Part of the Regulations made in the Council of Trent notwithstanding there were Reasons that obstructed the adhereing to that Council on Discipline-account What was done The States of Blois made Ordinances exactly like a great Part of the Decrees of that Council Thus without admiting the Council they follow'd in effect the Purport of it The Peripateticks have in some sort transcrib'd the Conduct of those grave Politicians 'T is a Crime among them to be a Cartesian but 't is an Honour to make good Use of the best Part of M. Descartes And to compare the Fortune of your Doctrin with that of another that in our Days hath made such a Bustle in the World before the Propositions of Jansenius had been condemn'd at Rome his Followers highly complimented him upon them His was the Pure and Uncorrupt Doctrin that was copied from the great S. Augustin but they had no sooner been censur'd as Heretical but they vanish'd in a Trice and could not be found in Jansenius his Book No one could heartily believe they ever had been there and in Spight of Bulls of Popes and Ordinances of Bishops 't was reckon'd a Mortal Sin to sign a Condemnation of Propositions and a Form of Faith without the Distinction of De Jure de Facto The quite contrary happen'd in the Affair I am speaking of At first when the Cartesians made Mention of Subtil Matter and ridicul'd the Horror of a Vacuum talk'd of the Elastick Vertue of the Air the Pressure of its Columns and the manner of the Impression of Objects on our Senses Aristotle was brought to confront them with a quite contrary Doctrin Since that Time upon Examination of the Reasons on which your Propositions in those Instances depended they would not say that you were in the Right but many undertook to affirm That Aristotle had taught the greatest Part of that before you There hath been since discover'd in his Writings an Ethereal Matter the manner of Sensations by the Concussion of the Organs the Demonstration of the Gravity of the Air and the most delicate Truths of the Equilibrium of Liquors So instead of the Jansenists abandoning or seeming to abandon the Right and sheltering themselves under the Fact the Peripateticks fall on Possession of the Right by the Fact itself that is the Peripateticks now find in Aristotle what according to themselves had not been visible for these thirty Years On the contrary the Jansenists have lost Sight of the Propositions they had pointed to us heretofore themselves before they were condemn'd So that would you make any Abatements as I hope you will that I may make good my Promise I made Voetius your Old Friend in Holland we should see M. Descartes turn Peripatetick and Aristotle Cartesian The other Thing that is Matter of Consolation to you and that in Defiance to all the Efforts of your Enemies must encourage you to hope for the Immortality of Cartesianism is the uncontroulable Liberty that 's left to every one of Writing for and against it And that at this Day the most Solid and Ingenious Patron of the New Philosophy is a celebrated Father of the Oratory whose Books are in great Reputation He forthwith requir'd his Name and Character He is call'd said I Father Malebranche He 's a Man of an extraordinary piercing Judgment of profound Thought that has a wonderful Gift at methodizing his Reflections which he opens and displays in the neatest and most lively manner imaginable that knows however to give an Air of Truth and a probable Turn to the most extraordinary and abstracted Notions that is skill'd to the utmost Perfection in preparing the Mind of his Reader and interessing him in his own Thoughts In short he is the most charming Cartesian that I know His principal Work is called The Search of Truth and it is from that in particular that he hath been acknowledg'd for such as I have describ'd him Yet I cannot conceal from you a little Accident that may somewhat allay the Joy that News must excite in you which is That this Illustrious Champion of the New Philosophy has been sometime since at Variance with M. Arnauld whose Friend he had ever been before which made a kind of Civil War The Onset and Defence on both Sides is manag'd with Vigor and Courage each of them combate in their own way Volumes of five or six hundred Pages apiece are sent out by M. Arnauld in the turning of an Hand The other is less luxuriant but more strict and pressing He takes those Captains for his Precedent who only make use of some select Troops without any regard to Number that always march close and in good Order who let the Enemy wheel about as often as they please but are sure to break their Ranks whenever they see an Advantage Discourse is various concerning the Motives of that War M. Arnauld is the Aggressor The most resin'd Politicians who as you know never fail to make the best of their Talent on such Occasions say It is a Trick and Evasion of the Old Doctor who has several other such at command Some Years ago there appear'd two Books against him one was titul'd The Spirit of M. Arnauld wrote by a French Protestant Minister retir'd to Holland that 's a very roguish Book I must confess and full of Venom and Gall but he leaves M. Arnauld inextricably in the Briars he not only turns his own Weapons upon him but also against the Catholick Religion and concludes directly from the Principles and Practice of M. Arnauld that most of the Arguments he takes to be most forcible and Advantagious to the Catholick Religion are nul and insignificant are meer Shew and Out-side sit only to dazle the Eyes of the Ignorant and such as cannot penetrate to the Bottom of Things The other Book which was printed the first of the two but was not made publick till some time after was written by a Jesuite against a French Translation of the New Testament commonly call'd The Mons New Testament done by the Gentlemen du Port Royal and whereof M. Arnauld took upon him the Patronage and Defence That Book of the Jesuite is Solidly Scholar-like and Politely wrote He very pertinently comes over M. Arnauld on many Occasions and adds from time to time in those Places he challenges him to give an Answer to such and such a Point Notwithstanding those two Books found no Reply and no one could say they were unanswer'd because they were despised and did not deserve the