by the Woman else her Seed being ill tempered impedes Generation Therefore it is convenient that they should both wait that both their Seeds may meet and mingle Which is of great importance for the first Effort because the right Testicle and it's Spermatic Vessel in the Opinion of Galen is that which first provokes and emits it's Seed sooner than the Left and if the Generation be not the first Time it is odds the second may give a Girl and not a Boy These two Seeds are known First by the Heat and Cold Secondly by the great or little Quantity Thirdly in this that one issues readier than to'ther The Seed of the right Testicle passes very tickling and is so Hot that it burns the Woman's Matrix is not much in Quantity and passes in hast On the contrary the Seed of the left Testicle is more temperate in greater Quantity and longer in Issuing being Cold and Thick The last Condition was to procure that the Seed of both should fall on the right side of the Matrix because in that place says Hippocrates the Males are form'd as the Females on the left Galen assigns the Reason hereof saying that the right side of the Matrix is very hot because of its neighbourhood to the Liver Reigns and spermatic Vessels that are on the right side which parts we have affirmed and prov'd to be very hot And since all the reason to order that a Boy may be begot consists in this that it have a great deal of heat in the time of its conception it is certain it much imports that the Seed fall in this place Which the Woman can easily do lying upon her right side after her Husbands embraces with her Head low and her Feet raised But she must keep her Bed a day or two because the Matrix embraces not the Seed but after some time The Signs of knowing whether a Woman be with Child or no are clear and manifest to all for if when she stands up the Seed fall presently down Galen says she has not conceived Therefore in this there is one thing to be considered that all the Seed is not fruitful and prolific for part thereof is waterish whose office is to dilute the principal Seed that it may pierce the narrow Passages And this is that which Nature emits and it remains after conception with the prolific part It is known when it is like Water and in little quantity To stand upon her Legs immediately after Coupling is very dangerous And therefore Aristotle advises that she beforehand evacuate her Excrements and Urine that she may have no need to Rise The second Mark to discover if a Woman be with Child is if the day after she feels her Belly empty and especially about the Navel And the Reason of it is that when the Matrix will conceive it stretches and extends extremely because in a manner it is apt to swell and stiffen upon this Occasion after the same fashion as a Mans Yard and stretching out after this manner it takes up more room but at the instant it conceives Hippocrates says that it closes and draws into the form of a little Egg to draw the Seed to it and let nothing out by which means it leaves a great Vacuity Which the Women explain saying that they have no slack Guts left soon after they grow big Besides which they forthwith nauseate their Husbands Caresses the Womb having what it wanted But the most certain Sign as Hippocrates says is when the Menses cease their Brests swell and they loath their Meat Article IV. What is to be observed that the Children may prove Witty and Wise IF the Reason and Cause be not known beforehand whence it proceeds that a Man of great Wit and Capacity is begotten it is impossible to reduce the same to an Art since we attain the End by no other Means but by connecting and ordering the Principles and Causes The Astrologers hold that the Child being born under such an Influence of the Stars will be Wise Witty Well or Ill-condition'd happy or unhappy with a thousand other qualities and properties which we see and observe every day among Men. But if this were true we could not here prescribe any Rules for all would depend upon Chance and not be in our Choice The natural Philosophers as Hippocrates Plato Aristotle and Galen were of Opinon that a Man receives the conditions of his Soul at the time of his Formation and not of his Birth The Stars only causing a superficial Alteration in the Babe communicating to to him Heat Cold Moisture Dryness and not his Substance whereon his Life depends as do the four Elements Fire Earth Air Water which not only add to the Composition heat cold moisture dryness but also a substance that unites and preserves these Qualities during the course of Life So that what is of greatest Importance in begetting Children is to endeavour that the Elements from which they are formed should have the Qualities requisite to Wit because that in the same Weight and Measure the Elements enter into the Composition in the same they remain for ever in the Mixture which is not so in the Mutations and Influences of Heaven What these Elements are and after what manner they enter the Woman's Womb to form the Child Galen tells when he teaches us that they are the same which compound all other natural things but that the Earth is concealed in the solid Meats we Eat such as Bread Flesh Fish and Fruits the Water under the Liquors we Drink and for the Air and Fire he says that they are mingled by order of Nature and enter into the Body by way of the Pulse and Respiration Of these four Elements mingled and digested by our Natural Heat are made the two necessary Principles of the Infants Generation which are the Seed and the Menstruous Blood But that whereof we make the greatest Account for the Mark we aim at are the solid Meats that are Eaten For they include within themselves all the four Elements and from them the Seed draws more Corpulence and Quality than from the Water which we drink or the Fire and Air which we breath Wherefore Galen says that the Parents who would beget wise Children should read the three Books he writ Of the Properties of Aliments for there they should find the Meats by which they should effect the same He makes no mention at all of Water nor of the other Elements as matters of small Consequence But he had no Reason for this for Water alters the Body much more than the Air and no less than the solid Meats we use and as to what regards the Generation of the Seed the Water alone is of as great Importance as all the other Elements together The reason of it is as the same Galen says that the Testicles draw from the Veins for their Nourishment the serous portion of Blood and the greatest part of this
Galen thought the most Important Qualification of all the rest For giving an Indication of the good Composition of the Brain he saies that the sharp Wit shews the Brain to be formed of very subtile and delicate Parts but if the Understanding be Dull it denotes the Brain to be Composed of a Gross Substance where he takes no Notice of the Temperament To the end the Rational Soul might by this means Reason well the Brain ought to have these Qualities But here arises a great Difficulty which is in opening the Head of any Beast whatever we shall find his Brains composed after the self same manner as Man's without being wanting in any of the Conditions mentioned To which it is Answered that in this Man and Brute Beasts agree in having a Temperament of the four first Qualities without which 't would be impossible for them to Subsist so are they composed of the four Elements Fire Air Water and Earth whence spring and proceed Heat Cold Moysture and Dryness In the Actions of the Vegetative Soul they also agree accordingly Nature has given to both alike Organs and Instruments necessary for Nourishment such are the right Fibres traverse and oblique subservient to the four Natural Faculties They also conspire in the Sensitive Soul for so they have Nerves and Sinews alike for the Instruments of Sense In local Motion they also agree no less thus have they both Muscles as fit Instruments directed by Nature to move from place to place They also accord in Memory and Fancy for so have they both Brains as an Instrument subservient to those two Faculties that are alike composed in both The Understanding is the sole Faculty that distinguishes Man from Beast and because the Understanding acts without any corporeal Organ or depends not on the same for it's being or preservation therefore Nature had no need of a new Turn in the composition of man's Brain However the Understanding hath Occasion for other Faculties to operate which Faculties likewise have the Brain for the Instrument of their Operations We add farther that the Brain of Man requires the Conditions we have laid down to the end the Rational Faculty may by means thereof perform Operations every way agreeable and conformable to its Species As to Brute Beasts it is certain they have Memory and Fancy and some other Power that Apes the Understanding even as a Monkey Apes a Man CHAP. VII That the Vegetative Sensitive and Rational Soul are knowing without being directed by Teachers when they meet with a Temperament agreeable to their Operations THE Temperament of the four First Qualities which we have already called Nature hath force sufficient of it self to leave the Plants the Brutes and Man unprovided of nothing wherewith to Act well each according to his Species and to arrive at the highest Perfection each is capable of for without any Teacher the Plants know how to spread and take Root in the Earth to draw Nourishment to keep it to digest it and throw off the Excrementitious Parts and Brute Beasts know as soon as ever they are born into the World what is agreeable to their Nature as well as to avoid what is Evil and Noxious And what most astonishes those that do not understand Natural Philosophy is that Man having a well tempered and disposed Brain suitable to each Science immediately and without being directed by any Teachers speaks concerning that Science of his own accord such elevate and subtle Things as are almost incredible Vulgar Philosophers seeing the admirable Actions performed by Brute Beasts say that there is nothing in them to Surprize us because they act those things by Instinct of Nature which directs each Species what it ought to do They say well for as we have proved already Nature is no other thing but the Temperament of the four First Qualities and that the same is the Master instructing our Souls how to perform their Offices But these Philosophers call Instinct of Nature a certain Heap of things they know not what which they have never been able in the least to Explain or make 〈…〉 ible Those Excellent Philosophers 〈…〉 and Aristotle have referred all these admirable Operations to Heat Cold Moisture and Dryness which they take for the first Principles without going further and being asked who has taught the Brute Beasts to perform such surprizing Actions And Men to Reason Hippocrates replied Nature without any other Teacher or Master as if he would have said the Faculties or the Temperament of which these Faculties consist are all knowing of themselves without the direction of any Master This we shall easily apprehend if we reflect on the Operations of the Vegetative Soul and of all the others which govern Man for if it receives a drop of Human Seed well-tempered well-digested and well-proportioned it frames a Body so regularly Composed so exact and so beautiful as the best Sculptors in the World can but imitate at a distance Galen amaz'd at the sight of so admirable a Structure the Number of it's Parts the Situation the Figure and use of each Part cried out it was Impossible for a Vegetative Soul and Temperament to know how to make so admirable a Work And that God alone was the Author of it or at least some other very wise Intelligence But we have already utterly disallowed this way of Prating for it is unbecoming Natural Philosophers to impute the Effects immediatly to God and overlook second Causes more especially in this Case where we see by Experience that if the Seed of Man be of an Incongruous Substance not having the proper Temperament the Vegetative Soul produces a thousand Extravagances For if the Seed be Colder and Moister than it ought Hippocrates has told us Men would come Eunuchs or Hermaphrodites into the World and if it were too Hot and Dry Aristotle has noted they would prove Hair-Lipped Splay-Footed and Flat-Nosed as the Ethiopians and if too moist says the same Galen they are like to prove unlick't and unshapen Lubbers and if too dry it makes them dwindle to a Dwarfish Stature all which enormous Defects are great Deformities in Mankind for which there is little reason to magnifie Nature or to Esteem her Wise but had God been the Author of these Works each of these forementioned Qualities could not have failed of Perfection Plato saies only the first Men were made by Gods own Hand and all the rest since have been born by the ordinary Course of second Causes which as they are found in order the Vegetative Soul performs her part very well but if she Concurrs not as she ought a thousand Absurdities are produced The good Order for this Effect is that the Vegetative Soul have a right Temperament Otherwise let Galen and all the Philosophers in the World give a Reason why the Vegetative Soul should have more Skill and Ability in the first Age of Man's Life to shape the Body to Nourish and make it
But we grounding only on the Doctrin we have handled may easily understand what is to be known in this matter The cause of Laughter is no other in my Opinion than a tacit allowance of the Imagination when it sees or hears some Rencounter or Accident which proves very agreeable And as this Power resides in the Brain when any of those things present it is strait mov'd and with it the Muscles all over the Body so we often approve sharp and witty Sayings by a nod of the Head But when the Imagination is very good it is not gratified with every Passage but with those only which are very pleasing and if they are not such it receives rather a Disgust than Pleasure Whence it comes that we seldom see Men of good Invention laugh and what is yet more considerable is that those who rally the most agreeably and are very Facetious never laugh at their own Jests or those of others because they have so delicate and fine a Fancy that their own witty Expressions and Railleries are not moving nor have all the Agreeableness and Grace they ought to have To which may be added That the Grace and Air of the thing spoke or offer'd ought to be new unheard-of and unseen Which is not the aim only of the Imagination but also of the other ruling Powers in Man Accordingly we find the Stomach strait nauseates the same Food it received twice the Sight the return of the same Figure and Colour the Hearing the repetition of the same Tune though it be good and so even the Understanding is tired with the same Thought Therefore he that rallies well laughs not at all at his own witty Jests because e'er they proceed out of his mouth he knows well enough before-hand what he is to say Whence I conclude the great Laughers want Imagination and let the Jest be what it will as flat as it is it extreamly moves and tickles ' em And therefore those who are very sanguine as they have a great deal of moisture which we have affirm'd to be contrary to and destructive of the Imagination so they also are very great Laughers Moisture has this peculiar that because of its smoothness and softness it blunts the edge and allays the heat causing it not to burn so much Accordingly that agrees best with Driness because it quickens its Actions Add to this that where Moisture is found it is a sign that the Heat is slack and moderate because it cannot resolve and consume it nor can the Imagination with so weak a Heat speed its own Operations From whence also it follows that Men of great Understanding are great Laughers because they want Invention As we may read of that great Philosopher Democritus and many others whom I have seen and observed Thus by means of Laughter we may discern if the Persons that have hard and rough Flesh and besides that black and crisp harsh and hard Hair excel in the Understanding or Imagination So that Aristotle has been mistaken in what regards the smoothness or softness of the Flesh One may Answer the fifth Argument That there are two sorts of Moisture in the Brain one which proceeds from the Air when that Element is prodominant in the Composition and the other from Water by means of which the other Elements are blended together If the Brain partake of the first Moisture the Memory will be very good easie to receive and strong to retain the Figures long because the moisture of the Air is very Oily and unctuous in which the Species of things fasten strongly as may be seen by Painting in Oil which exposed to the Sun or cast into the Water sustains no damage and if we rub a Writing all over with Oil it never wears out Since that which is obliterated to that degree that one cannot read it is made legible by Oil which gives it a kind of clearness and transparence But if the smoothness and softness of the Brain proceed from any other Humour the Argument is strong for if it receive easily the Figure it also as suddenly wears out because the moisture of the Water has no Oil to which the Species could stick and catch These two kinds of Moisture are distinguished in Hair that which proceeds from Air makes them thick oily and greasy and that from Water slimy and limber The sixth Argument may receive this Answer That the Figures of things in the Brain are not imprinted there like the Figure of the Seal in the Wax but only by penetrating remain there fixt or after the manner as Birds are caught with Birdlime and Flies with Honey because these are not Corporeal Figures and cannot be blended nor break in upon one another We may resolve the seventh Difficulty thus That the Figures confound and soften the Substance of the Brain neither more nor less than Wax is softned between the Fingers Besides that the Vital Spirits have the Virtue to soften and moisten the Members that are hard and dry even as we see the heat of the Fire soften Iron And we have already proved that the Vital Spirits ascend up to the Brain as often as any thing is learn'd by heart Whether all Corporeal and Spiritual Exercise drys or not all Physicians hold that moderate Exercise fattens The eighth Argument is capable of this Reply there are two kinds of Melancholy one Natural which is as it were the Cement of the Blood whose Temperament is cold and dry and which is of a very gross substance and the same is of no advantage to the Wit but makes Men Fools Sots and Giglers because of a defect in their Imagination There is another call'd Atra-bilis black or burnt Choler which according to Aristotle's Opinion made the wisest Men whose Temperament is various as is that of Vinegar which sometimes produces some effects of heat making the Earth quake like Dough and at other times too much cools it but is always dry and of a very delicate substance Cicero own'd he had a slow Wit because he had no adust Choler and he spoke truth for if he had been so he would not have proved so Eloquent for the Men of black Choler want Memory to which belongs Volubility of Speech It has another quality which mightily helps the Understanding that is to be as resplendent as an Agat by means of which Splendor the Brain is illuminated to the end the Figures may be clearly reflected And this Heraclitus meant when he said A dry Light makes a most excellent Wit which Splendor the Natural Melancholy has not but its Black is Sleep and Death And we shall hereafter prove that the Rational Soul has occasion to have a Brain of Light to reflect the Figures and the Species The Answer to the ninth Argument is That the Prudence and Dexterity of Wit as Galen said belong'd to the Imagination by means of which Futurities are known and with Allusion to this Cicero affirmed The Memory is of
that the Forbiden-Fruit made his Imagination more lively after the manner we have mention'd and then it represented to him the Nature and Use of the shameful Parts But yet that this Exposition may be veritable enough as we see the common Opinion is that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil received not this Name from it's Nature but only by occasion of the Consequence that attended it Which seems to me most Probable Hens Capons Veal and Spanish Weathers are Meats of a moderate Substance for these are neither Delicate nor Gross I said Spanish Weathers because Galen without making Distinction said That their Flesh is of evil and gross Substance for which there is no Reason For tho' in Italy where he writ this is the worst Flesh of all yet in our Country because of the Goodness of the Pastures it may be reckoned amongst the Meats of moderate Substance The Children engendred from these Aliments shall have a reasonable Understanding Memory and Imagination But they will not penetrate deep into the Sciences or Invent any thing New Of these we have spoke before that they readily receive the Impression of all the Rules and Observations of any Art clear obscure easy and difficult But the Doctrin the Argument the Answer the Doubt the Distinction all these will give them Pains and Trouble Cow-flesh Bacon Bread of Red-wheat Cheese Olives Red-Wine and Water will breed a gross Seed and of an evil Temperament The Boy begot of these will be strong as a Bull but withall fierce and of a Brutish Wit From whence it comes that amongst the Country People it is a marvel to find one of a quick Capacity and towardly for Learning They are all born Dull and Rude being begot of Meats of gross and evil Substance The Contrary befalls amongst Citizens whose Children we find endued with more Wit and Ability But if Parents desired in earnest to beget a Son personable wise and of good Conditions let them for six or seven Days before their Companying eat much Goats Milk that being in the Opinion of all the Physicians the best and most delicate Food that can be used This is to be understood when they are sound and it agrees with us But Galen saith it should be taken with Honey without which it is dangerous and easy to Curdle The Reason of which is that Milk is composed but of three Elements Cheese Whey and Butter Cheese answers to the Earth Whey to Water and Butter to Air. The Fire which tempers the other Elements and preserves them in the Mixture issuing out of the Teats is exhaled because it is very subtile but adding to it a little Honey which is hot and dry in lieu of the Fire the Milk will partake of the four Elements which being mingled and concocted by the Operation of our Natural Heat makes a Seed very delicate and of good Temperament The Boy begot of this will at least be of a great Understanding and want neither Memory or Imagination Aristotle not being of this Opinion came short in answering a Problem he made when he asked For what Cause the young of Brute Beasts draw for the most part the properties and qualities of their Sires and the Children of a Man not And we find this by Experience to be true for of wise Parents are born very foolish Children and of foolish Parents wise Children and of virtuous Parents lewd Children and of lewd Parents virtuous Children of hard favored Parents fair Children and of fair Parents foul Children and of white Fathers swarthy Children and of swarty Fathers clear and well-complexion'd Children And amongst Children of the same Father and Mother one shall be a Fool and the other Witty one Ugly the other Handsom one Good and the other Ill-humor'd one Virtuous and the other Vitious Whereas if a Mare of a generous Race be cover'd with a Horse of the same kind the Colt which is foaled resembles them in Shape and Colour as well as in their Properties Aristotle answer'd very ill to this Problem saying That a Man is carried away with many Imaginations in the Carnal Act and hence the Children prove so unlike but Brute Beasts in the time of Generation being not so distracted nor having so strong Imaginations as Man produce their Young Ones after the same Sort and like to themselves This Answer has hitherto passed for Currant with the Vulgar Philosophers and for Confirmation hereof they alledge the History of Jacob which delivers that he having laid Streaked Rods at the Watering Places of the Flocks caused all the Lambs that were yeaned to be Spotted But it avails little to have recourse to Holy Writ for this Story is reckoned a Miracle wrought by God to hide some Sacrament And Aristotle's Answer is far fetched If not let the Shepherds now attempt the same and they will see if it be a Natural Thing They tell us also in this Country of a certain Lady that was deliver'd of a Son blacker than ordinary by fixing her Imagination upon a Blackmoor painted in the Hangings which I look upon as a Jest and if by chance it were true that she was brought to Bed of such a Son I say that the Father was of the same Colour with the Face represented in the Hangings And to the end it may be plainly known how false the Philosophy of Aristotle and his Followers in this Particular is it must be suppos'd as a thing certain that the Work of Generation belongs to the Vegetative Soul and not to the Sensitive and if we consider a Tree loaden with Fruit we shall find there a greater Variety than in the Children of any Man one Apple will be Green another Red one Little another Great one Round another Ill-figur'd one Sound another Rotten one Sweet another Sower if we compare this years Fruit with the Last we shall see them very Different and Contrary to one another Which cannot be attributed to the Variety of the Imagination because Plants want that Power Aristotle's Error is most manifest by his own Doctrin for he says that it is the Man's Seed not the Womans which makes the Generation and in the Carnal Act the Man has no more to do than to scatter the Seed without Form or Figure as the Husband-man sows the Grain in the Earth And like as a Grain of Corn takes not Root immediately nor forms the Blade or Ear until some Days are past In the same manner says Galen the Child is not formed as soon as the Man's Seed falls into the Womb it must according to his Account have between thirty and fourty Days to accomplish it And if this be so what matter is it if the Father have never so many Imaginations during the Act if the Formation of the Foetus be not till after some Days Especially when the Formation is not effected either by the Father's Soul or the Mother's but by a third thing found in the Seed which being
Spain we may distribute the Virtues and Vices already mentioned amongst the Inhabitants allotting to each his Virtue and his Vice respectively For if we reflect on the Wit and Manners of the Catalans Valentians Murcians Granadins Andalusians Estremadurians Portugueses Gallicians Asturians Miquelets Biscayners Navarrers Arragonians and Castilians who sees and knows not that they differ one from another not only in the Lineaments of their Faces and Make of their Bodies but also in the Virtues and Vices of the Soul and that all this is the Consequence of each Provinces possessing a different Temperament Nor is this Diversity of Manners only to be observ'd in Countries so disjoined but even in Places seated not more than a little League distant the Variety of Wit amongst the Inhabitants is hardly to be believed Finally what Galen writ in his Book is the Foundation of this Work although he did not arrive at the particular discussion of the Difference of Wits amongst Men nor the Sciences which each in particular required yet he knew full well it was necessary to make a Repartition of the Sciences among the Youth and to assign to each that which was most suitable to his Genius when he said that Well-order'd Republics should employ Men of great Wisdom and Knowledge who in their growing Years should sound the Wit and Natural Application of each so to engage them to learn the Art most agreeable to them not leaving it to them to act at their own choice CHAP. V. What Power the Temperament has to make a Man Wise and good Natured HIppocrates in consideration of the good disposition of our Rational Souls and how frail and every way subject to change Human Bodies wherein they dwell are delivered a Sentence worthy so great an Author Our Rational Soul is always the same throughout the whole course of our Life in Youth and in Age when we are Children and grown Men the Body quite contrary never continues in one State nor is there any Means to keep it so And although some Physicians have been in search of an Art to this purpose yet they have never been able to prevent the Changes attending every Age of Man with all their Rules and Precepts For Childhood is and will be hot and moist Youth temperate Manhood hot and dry Middle-Age moderate in heat and cold but offending in too much driness and Old-Age cold and dry We can no more hinder Heaven from changing the Weather almost every moment than we can the Air making such changeable Impressions on our Bodies Whence he concludes to make a Man wise that was not so at first there need not be any Jog in the Rational Soul nor any endeavour to Meliorate its Nature for besides that it is impossible there is no need it wanting in effect nothing of the Harmonious Temper with which it was framed that can hinder Man from performing in Perfection those Actions that are convenient for him Therefore he said When the Four Elements but more especially Fire and Water enter the Composition of Man's Body in the same Proportion and Measure the Soul becomes very Ingenious and endued with an Excellent Memory but if the Water exceed the Fire it proves Stupid and Dull not so much through any defect of her own as from the Instrument wherewith she acts being depraved Which Galen weighing well boldly concluded that all the Inclinations and Dispositions of the Rational Soul follow'd without doubt the Constitution of the Body with which she was clothed and proceeding yet further he blames the Moral Philosophers for not Studying Physic seeing 't is certain that not only Prudence which is the Foundation of all the Virtues but also Fortitude Justice and Temperance with their opposite Vices depend in great measure on our Constitutions therefore he said it was the Employment of Physic to expel Vices from Man and to introduce their contrary Virtues So that he has left us an Art to Extinguish Lust and to raise Chastity to render the Proud more Pliant and Tractable the Covetous Liberal the Coward Valiant the Ignorant Wise and Knowing and all the care he employs to obtain his End is only to correct the Ill Constitution of the Body by the assistance of Physic and a Regimen corresponding to each Virtue and contrary to each Vice without any regard in the least of the Soul pursuant to the Opinion of Hippocrates who openly declar'd the Soul was not subject to any Change and stood in need of no Power to acquit her self of those Ties she was under provided she had good Organs Whereupon he conceiv'd it was little less than an Error to seat the Virtues in the Soul and not in the Organs of the Body by which the Soul acted and without which he thought no Virtue was to be acquired except by introducing a new Temperament But this Opinion of his is false and contrary to that ordinarily receiv'd by the Moral Philosophers that the Virtues are spiritual Habits having their Seat in the Rational Soul for such as the Subject is such must be the Accident which is received Moreover that the Soul being the Agent and Mover and the Body the Patient which is moved by it it is much more to the Purpose to place the Virtues in the Agent rather than in the Patient And were the Virtues and Vices such Habits as depended purely on the Constitution it might thence be concluded that Man acted only as a Natural Agent and not as a Free one for so he would be inevitably sway'd in proportion to the good or bad Disposition attending his Constitution and by consequence his Best Actions would deserve no Reward nor his Worst no Punishment according to the Saying That as to things which are Natural to us we can neither Merit nor Demerit But on the contrary we see a great many Persons who fail not to be Virtuous in spite of a Constitution that is Vitious and Deprav'd and such as rather disposes them to Evil than Good according to that Saying That a wise Man is Superior to the ill Influences of Heaven And for what concerns wise and discreet Actions we see many indiscreet Actions committed by very Wise and well Temper'd Men as on the other side not a few discreet Actions committed by Persons that are not so and who are of no happy Constitution Whence we may collect that Prudence and Wisdom and other Human Virtues are from the Soul and depend not at all upon the Composition or Frame of Body as Hippocrates and Galen have vainly imagin'd Though it may seem strange that these two great Physicians and with them Aristotle and Plato were of the same Opinion and all without Truth We are to take notice therefore that the Perfect Virtues such as the Moral Philosophers treat of are Spiritual Habits which have place in the Rational Soul and whose Being is altogether independent upon the Body From which it is evident there is in Man neither Virtue nor Vice I say nothing of Supernatural Virtues
as being not of this Rank that has its proper Temperament of Body either to facilitate or retard him in his Actions this Temperament then the Moralists improperly call Virtue or Vice considering that Men ordinarily speaking betray no other Inclinations than those mark'd out by this Temperament I say ordinarily speaking because in effect many Mens Souls are fill'd with perfect Virtue although the Organs of their Body afford them no Temperament subservient to accomplish the Desires of the Soul and yet nevertheless for all that by virtue of their Free Will they fail not to act like good Men though not without some Struggle and Reluctance According to which St. Paul has said I delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man but I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the Mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin In which Words St. Paul gives us to understand that he felt within himself two Laws wholly opposite one in his Soul which made him to love God's Law the other in his Members that led him to Sin Whence we may gather that the Virtues St. Paul had in his Soul did not correspond with the Constitution of his Body it being necessary for them to act with a sweet Consent and without the Resistance of the Flesh his Soul aspir'd to Pray and Meditate but when in order to this the motion presented to his Brain it was found indisposed because of his great Coldness and Moisture which are stupifying Qualities and proper to move to Sleep Of the same Temper were the three Disciples that accompanied Jesus Christ in the Garden when he Pray'd telling them The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak In like manner his Spirit would have Fasted and when to that end the Offer was made to his Stomach he found it weak and without strength as having an unruly Appetite His Soul would have him Chast and Continent but when the motion presented to the Parts of Generation it found them inflamed with Concupiscence and inciting him to Actions of a contrary Nature and Tendency With such like Inclinations as these virtuous Persons find it a hard Task to live well and not without Reason was it said That the Road to Virtue was covered over with Thorns But if the same Soul that is bent upon Meditation meets a Brain Hot and Dry which are the Dispositions peculiar to Watching and if when it attempts to Fast it finds a Stomach Hot and Dry of which Constitution according to Galen the Man is that loaths Meats and if when it aims to Embrace Chastity it meets the Parts of Generation Cold and Moist without doubt it will accomplish the several Proposals without any Struggle or Reluctance whatever because the Law of the Mind and the Law of the Members exact both the same thing and such a Man in such a Case may act Virtuously without any Violence to his Nature Wherefore Galen said That it was the Part of a Physician to make a Man Virtuous that was formerly Vitious and that the Moral Philosophers committed a great over-sight in not making use of Physic for attaining the Perfection of their Art since in Correcting only the ill Constitution of the Body they might make the Virtuous act without any Check and with a sweet Consent What I would desire of Galen and all the Moral Philosophers is that admitting it to be true that to each Virtue and Vice seated in the Soul there corresponds a particular Temperament of Body which Aids or Diverts it in Acting they would have given us a particular Account of all Mens Virtues and Vices and have told us by which Corporal Qualities both one and the other are Supplanted or Maintain'd to the End we might not be to seek for a proper Remedy Aristotle knew well that a good Temperament made a Man Prudent and of a good Disposition which occasion'd him to say That the good Temperament did not only affect the Body but also the Mind of Man But he has not shewn what this good Temperament was on the contrary he asserted That Mens Dispositions were founded upon Hot and Cold. But Hippocrates and Galen exclude those two Qualities as Vitious approving the Equality of Temperament where the Heat exceeds not Cold nor the Moisture Driness Which made Hippocrates say If the great Moisture of the Water and the excessive Driness of the Fire are equally Temper'd in the Body the Man will be very Wise Nevertheless many Physicians because of the great Reputation of the Author upon Enquiring into this Temperament have found that it does not Answer what Hippocrates promised but on the contrary their Opinion was that those who had it were Weak Men and of little Vigor and did not express in their Actions so much Conduct as those of an ill Constitution They are of a very Sweet and Affable Temper and Inoffensive to every Man in Word and Deed which makes them pass for very Virtuous and void of Passion which raises Tempests in the Soul These Physicians disapprove the equal Temperament inasmuch as it disables and flats the force of the Spirits and is the cause they do not act freely as they ought Which appears evidently in two Seasons of the Year the Spring and Autumn when the Air falls out to be Temperate for then happen the Diseases insomuch that the Body is observ'd to be much more healthful when it is either very Hot or very Cold than during the mediocrity of the Spring Time Sacred Writ in speaking of the sensible Qualities seems in a mariner to favour this Opinion I would thou wert either Cold or Hot so then because thou art Lukewarm I will spue thee out of my Mouth Which seems to me to be grounded upon Aristotle's Doctrine who held for an infallible Opinion that all the Natural Actions of Man consisted in Heat and Cold and not in a Lukewarmness and Mediocrity of Constitution But Aristotle would have done well to have told us what Virtue corresponds to each of the Qualities and to what again the contrary Vice that so we might have applied in Practice the Remedies prescribed by Galen As for me I believe Cold is of more Importance to the Rational Soul to preserve its Virtues in due Peace and to prevent all undue Ferments amongst the Humours for Galen says no less there is no Quality so much blunts the Concupiscible and Irascible Faculty as Cold nor that so powerfully excites the Rational Faculty as Aristotle assures us that does especially if it be joined with Driness for this is certain as the Inferior Part is disabled or depressed the Faculties of the Rational Soul in the same proportion are exalted and inlarged But be that as
we see all that have Excelled whether it be in the Study of Philosophy or Government or the Poets or in any other Art whatsoever have been Melancholy Never to see Women but to fly wholly their Company how much that over-cools the Body and what new Changes are incident to Persons becoming Chast Galen makes appear by abundance of Observations he had made He recounts amongst others what happened to a Friend of his a Widdower who immediately lost his Stomach to that degree as he could only digest the Yolk of an Egg and if by constraint he Eat as formerly he strait Vomited and was withal Lumpish and Dull upon which Galen's advice to him was to Marry again if he 'd recover his Health and thereupon said he He was immediately freed from all his Complaints as soon as he returned to his old way of Living The same Physician tells of some Choristers who finding by Experience the near Correspondence between the Testicles and the Throat and that to sport with Women endangers the spoiling of the Voice they were Chast by constraint that they might not lose the good Cheer and the Pay which were the returns of their Musick And Galen says further That their Privy Parts were so small so cold and so lank as they look'd like Old Men. But on the contrary the Wanton had large Genitals because they kept them often in use the Seminal Vessels being large and distended from which issued abundance of Spirits and Natural Heat for as Plato observ'd long since It is Exercise makes the Parts of the Body more able as they are Impaired by not Exerting them as they are directed As it is certain that in each Act of Venery the Parts of Generation are more and more provoked remaining more able and disposed to repeat the Act again but as often as a Man checks his Inclination he becomes colder and less able for Generation Whence I collect that a Man who by this means is become Continent and Chast soon obtains an habitual Frigidity by which he Performs with the same Aversion and Reluctance as an Old Man or one that is born Impotent or an Eunuch Those then that desire to be Chast and not to be provoked by the Flesh being conscious of their Infirmity may serve themselves of cold Medicines and of such things as by Impairing and Consuming the Seed render them frigid and in this Sense this Passage is to be understood Happy are they that are made Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven All that ever we have said and confirmed in relation to Chastity and Incontinence is no less true of other Virtues and Vices respectively for each has his particular Temperament of Heat and Cold and is to be understood more or less of the Constitution of each Part of the Body and of the greater or lesser degrees of these two Qualities I have declared for Heat and Cold because there is neither Virtue nor Vice rooted in Moisture nor in Driness for according to Aristotle's Opinion these two Qualities are purely Passive as Heat and Cold are Active Whereupon he asserted That our Natural Inclinations are more from Heat and Cold than from any thing else in our Bodies and in this he conspires with the Holy Scripture which says I would rather thou wert Cold or Hot c. The reason of which is because there is no Man found of so exact a Constitution as is required to be the Foundation of Virtue Whereupon Sacred Writ and Philosophy chose Heat and Cold because there are no other Qualities wherein to place the Virtues although this be not without something in Counterballance to them for suppose there are abundance of Virtues correspondent to Cold and Heat these Qualities fail no less at all times to be the source of abundance of Vices by which means it is a great Miracle if there be a Man found so Lewd who has not some Virtues natural to him or so Virtuous that has not some Vices But the Quality observed to be best for the Rational Soul is the cold Constitution of Body This is easily prov'd if we run through the several Stages of Man's Life Infancy Youth Manhood Middle-Age and Old-Age for we find that because each Age respectively has its particular Temperament accordingly at one time a Man is Vitious at another Virtuous in one he is Indiscreet or Perverse and in the other Wise and better Advis'd Infancy is nothing else but a hot and moist Temperament in which Plato said the Rational Soul was as it were plunged and stifled not being able freely to employ the Understanding Will or Affections till in length of Time it passes to another Age and has gain'd a new Temperament The Virtues of Infancy are very many and the Vices but very few Children says Plato admire from what Principles the Sciences arise In the next Place they are Docile Tractable Gentle and Easy to receive the Impression of all Kinds of Virtues In the third Place they are Bashful and full of Fear which according to Plato is the Foundation of Temperance In the fourth place they are Credulous and Easy to be led they are Charitable Frank Chast Humble Innocent and Undesigning To which Virtues Jesus Christ had regard when he said to his Disciples Except you become as little Children you shall not Enter into the Kingdom of Heaven We know not of what Age the Child was whom God proposed for our Imitation but you must know Hippocrates divided Infancy into three or four Stations and because Children from the First to the Fourteenth Year always admit abundance of Humours and a variety of Temperament so likewise they are subject to divers Diseases and their Souls at the same time not without a great many different Virtues and Vices In consideration of which Plato began to Instruct a Child from the very First Year although he could not then Speak directing his Nurse how to distinguish by his Laughing his Tears and even his Silence his Virtues and Vices and how she should Correct them Holy Writ declared that Saul had the Virtues of this Age when he was chosen King He was a Child of a Year Old when he began to Reign Whence it appears that God made the same Division as Hippocrates observing the Virtues of Infancy by the Years Youth which is the Second Age of Man is reckon'd from the Fourteenth to the Five and Twentieth Year this Age according to the Opinion of Physicians is neither Hot nor Cold nor Moist nor Dry but Temperate and in a Mediocrity of all the Qualities the Parts of the Body in this Temperament are such as the Soul requires for all sorts of Virtues and especially for Wisdom For after this manner speaks Hippocrates if the great Moisture of the Water and the extream Driness of the Fire happen to be equally Temper'd in the Body the Man will be very Wise and endued with an Excellent Memory The Virtues we have allotted to Infancy seem to be acts proceeding from meer
St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr in the Discourse he had with the Jews that the Children of Israel abode Four hundred and thirty Years in the Egyptian Bondage And though the Abode of Two hundred and ten Years were sufficient to tincture the Children of Israel with the Qualities of Egypt yet the time they lived Abroad was not lost in what related to their Wit inasmuch as those that live under the Yoke of Servitude in Pressures in Afflictions and in a strange Land contract a great deal of Adust Choler in being barred Liberty of Speech and of Revenging their Injuries and the same Humour being Adust is the Instrument of Craft of Cunning and of Malice As we see by Experience that there are no Manners or Conditions worse than those of Slaves whose Imagination is ever busied in contriving to do some Damage to their Master and free themselves from Slavery Moreover the Country through which the Israelites marched was not not much alienated nor far remote from Egypt no more than from its Qualities for with regard to its Misery and Barrenness God promised Abraham that he would give him another more Rich and Fruitful Now it is a thing verified as well in good Natural Philosophy as Experience that barren and poor Countries which bear neither Grain nor Fruit in abundance produce Men of very sharp Wit and on the contrary Fat and Fertile Lands produce Men that are big Limb'd Stout and Robust of Body but slow of Wit Touching Greece Historians never make an end of telling us That it is a Country proper to produce Men of great Abilities and Galen particularly says That it was a Wonder to see a Blockhead born at Athens and note that this was the poorest and barrennest Land of all Greece So that from thence may be gathered that at least some Qualities of Egypt and the other Provinces through which the Children of Israel past gave them a very sharp Wit But you are to know how the Temperament of Egypt produced this Difference of Imagination Which is very clear considering that in this Country the Sun is very burning for which Reason the Inhabitants Brains are boiling and have much Adust Choler which is the Instrument of Craft and Cunning This made Aristotle enquire Whence comes it that the Negroes of Aethiopia and the Native Egyptians are splay Footed curl Pated and flat Nosed To which Problem he Answers That the extream Heat of the Country burns the Substance of these Parts and shrievels them like Leather before the Fire from the same Reason their Hair curls in Rings and frizels Now that such as inhabit hot Countries are Wiser than those that dwell in cold we have already proved from the Opinion of Aristotle who ask'd Why Men born in Hot Countries are Wiser than those Born in Cold But neither did he know well how to Answer this Problem nor to distinguish of Wisdom for as we have elsewhere proved there are two kinds of Wisdom in Man one of which Plato speaks That Knowledge which is Void of Honesty ought rather to be called Craft than Wisdom another that is attended with Honesty and Simplicity without Double-dealing or Tricks and this more properly is to be called Wisdom because it goes always on the side of Justice and Honesty Those that inhabit very hot Countries are Wise in the first kind of Wisdom and such are the Egyptians Now let us see when the Children of Israel came out of Egypt and were in the Desart what kind of Water they drank and of what Temperament the Air was where they Travelled that we may know whether on this Occasion the Wit that issued with them out of Bondage was impaired or more confirmed in them Fourty Years says the Text God sustained his People with Manna a Meat as delicate and savory as ever Men eat in the World to such a degree as Moses seeing the delicacy and goodness thereof charged his Brother Aaron to fill a Pot with it and lay it up in the Ark of the Covenant to the end the Children of this People being setled in the Land of Promise should see the Bread with which God had fed their Fathers in their passing through the Desart and how ill Returns they made for such a Regale And that we who never saw this Meat may know what it was it will not be amiss to give a Description of the Natural Manna that by making allowance for the greater Delicacy we may entirely comprehend what was the goodness of the Miraculous Manna The material Cause then of which Manna is made is a very delicate Vapor raised by the force of the Sun's Heat from the Earth which being in the height of the Region of the Air is digested and brought to Perfection and by the Cold of the approaching Night condenses and being congealed falls upon Trees and Stones from whence it is gathered and preserved in certain Vessels to eat 'T is called Dewy and Airy Honey because of the semblance it has with Dew and its being formed of Air its Colour is white its Taste sweet as Honey and its Form like that of Coriander which are the Marks which Sacred Writ gave also of the Manna eat by the Children of Israel so that there wants not Reason to suspect that they both held the same Nature And if that which God made was of a more delicate Substance so much the better we shall confirm our Opinion But I was ever of Opinion that God accommodated himself to Natural Means when he would work with them what he meant and where Nature was wanting his Omnipotence supplied This I say because in giving the People Manna to eat in the Desart besides what God would signifie by it to my thinking was founded in the Disposition of the Earth which to this very day produces the best Manna in the World therefore Galen said That in Mount-Libanus which is not far distant from this Place it is produced in a great quantity and of the greatest Excellence even to that degree that the Country Labourers are wont to sing in their Pastimes that Jupiter rained down Honey upon their Land And though it be true that God miraculously created that Manna in the Wilderness in such a Quantity at such an Hour and such set Days it might nevertheless partake of the same Nature with our Manna in like manner as the Water which Moses made spring out of the Rock and the Fire that Eliah made come down from Heaven at his Word were natural Things though Miraculously derived The Manna described to us in Scripture was like a Dew It was like Coriander-seed white and the Taste of it like Wafers made with Honey all which Properties meet in Natural Manna The Temperament thereof as Physicians say is Hot and consisting of subtile and very delicate Parts as also was the Manna eat by the Israelites Accordingly they murmured at its Deliciousness Our Soul said they loaths this light Food and the Philosophy of this was
That they had strong Stomachs that were inured to Garlic Leaks and Onions and when they fed upon Meat of so slight Resistance it turned all into Choler Therefore Galen forbid those that abound in Natural Heat to eat Honey or any other such slight Food lest it should corrupt and instead of Digesting broil in the Stomach like Fat. Even so it befel the Israelites with the Manna for it converted all into Choler Adust So that they became wholly Dry and Withered because this Meat was not substantial enough to stuff them Our Soul is dried away and there is nothing at all besides this Manna before our Eyes The Water they drank after this Meat was such as they desired and if they had not found it as they wished God shewed Moses a piece of Wood which had so Divine a Virtue that being cast into Gross and Salt Water it made them become delicate and savory and when they had no Water Moses took the Rod with which he opened a dozen Ways in the Red-Sea and striking therewith the Rock there issued Springs of Water as delicate and savory as their Taste could wish Which gave Occasion to St. Paul to say That the Rock followed them That is to say that the Water streamed out of the Rock according to their Wishes delicate sweet and savory And they had their Stomachs suited to the drinking of Gross and Briny Waters for in Egypt says Galen they boiled them to prepare them for Drink being putrid and corrupt so that drinking such delicate Waters they could not avoid their turning to Choler because of their small resistance The same Qualities says Galen Water requires to digest well in our Stomach and not Corrupt as the solid Meats we eat If the Stomach be strong it ought to have strong Aliments to correspond with it in proportion but if the same be weak and delicate such the Meat ought also to be The same is to be observed in Water for we see by Experience if a Man be accustomed to drink Gross Waters he never quenches his Thirst with the Purer nor feels them hardly in his Stomach nay he shall be more Thirsty after them inasmuch as the Extream Heat of the Stomach burns and resolves them as soon as they are down because they can make no Resistance The Air they breathed in the Desart was as we may say subtil and delicate for travelling over Mountains and through vast Solitudes it Fanned them every moment fresh and clear and without the least Corruption because they made no long stay in any Place It was also ever very Temperate for by Day a Cloud was drawn before the Sun that restrained it from scorching and by Night arose a Pillar of Fire that moderated it and qualified it for such an Air as Aristotle affirms much sharpens the Wit Let us now consider how delicate and well digested the Seed of the Males of this Hebrew People might be being nourished by such Food as Manna drinking the Waters we have spoke of and breathing an Air so pure and delicate and withal how delicate and fine the Flowers of their Women might be and let us call to mind what Aristotle said That the Flowers being subtile and delicate the Child bred of them shall be a Man of great Capacity How much it imports that the Father should eat delicate Meats to beget very able Children we shall prove at large in the last Chapter of this Book And whereas all the Jews eat of the same delicate and spirituous Meat and drank of the same Water all their Children and Posterity proved sharp and of great Wit for the Matters of this World From the Time the Children of Israel were arrived at and setled in the Land of Promise with a sharp Wit as we have said they had so many Travels Dearths Sieges of Enemies Subjections and Bondages and other ill Usages that if they had not brought from Egypt and the Wilderness the Hot Dry and Adust Temperament before mentioned they would have Contracted the same from their uncomfortable Course of Life For continual Sadness and Toil unite the Vital Spirits and Arterial Blood in the Brain Liver and Heart where sticking one about the other they come to heat and burn And so very often they raise a Fever but ordinarily produce Choler adust of which most of that Nation partake even to this day as Hippocrates said That Fear and Sorrow which hold long are signs of Melancholy We have already affirmed That this Burnt Choler was the Instrument of Craft Cunning Intriguing and Malice and that Humour is accommodated to the Conjectures in Physic and by the same the Notice of the Cause and Cure of Diseases is attained So King Francis admirably hit upon it and what he said was not a Delirium much less a Suggestion of the Devil but it ought rather to be thought that by the means of a high Fever of so long Continuance and through the Indignation he was in to see himself Sick without Relief his Brain was fired and his Imagination raised to that degree of which we have proved before that if it reaches the Temperament it ought forthwith it makes a Man speak what he never learn'd But against all that we have said a very great Difficulty arises which is that if the Sons or Grandchildren of those that were in Egypt and had tasted Manna the Waters and delicate Air of the Desart had been designed for Physicians it might seem that the Opinion of King Francis was somewhat probable for the Reasons recounted But that their Posterity should retain even to this day the Dispositions of the Manna the Water the Air the Afflictions and the Toils their Ancestors endured in the Egyptian Captivity is a thing not easy to conceive For if in Four Hundred and thirty Years which the Children of Israel spent in Egypt and the Fourty in the Desart their Seed could acquire those Dispositions of Ability they might better and with more probability lose it again in the Two thousand Years since they came out of the Desart more especially for those that setled in Spain a Country so contrary to Egypt and where they have fed on such contrary Meats and drank Waters not of so good a Temperament nor Substance as in that Land For such is the Nature of Man and so of any Plant or Animal whatever that he partakes of the Conditions of the Country he is transplanted into and loses those he brought from other Places And in any Instance to be alledged the like will befal it in a few days without Contradiction A certain Race of Men as Hippocrates notes to distinguish themselves from the Vulgar chose as a Mark of their Nobility to have their Heads like a Sugar-Loaf and to Shape this Figure by Art the Midwives had a Charge to roll up their Heads with certain Bands and Fillets till they took that Shape This Artifice really gained such Power
serous Humour which the Veins receive is from the Water we Drink And that the Water causes a greater Alteration in the Body than the Air Aristotle proves where he demands Why the change of Water makes so great a Change in our Health and if we breath a contrary Air we are not sensible of it To which he Answers That Water gives Nourishment to our Bodies but Air not But he had no reason to Answer after this manner for the Air according to the opinion of Hippocrates yields Nourishment and Substance as well as Water And therefore Aristotle devised a better Answer when he said That no Place or Country has its peculiar Air for that which is now in Flanders upon a North Wind rising will travel in two or three days to Africa and that which is there if the South Wind blows will veer about to the North and that which is to day in Jerusalem will be carried by an Easterly Wind even to the West Indies Which fares not so in Waters for they spring not all out of the same Earth and so each People have their particular Water agreeable to the Mineral whence it springs and through which it passes And a Man us'd to one sort of Water drinking another is altered more than by new Meats or Air. So that Fathers who desire to get very wise Children should drink delicate sweet and well temper'd Waters else they will lose their Aim Aristotle advises us at the time of Generation to beware of the South Wind because it is gross and moistens the Seed and causes a Girl to be got and not a Boy And as to the West he can never praise it enough nor give it Names and Epithets sufficiently Honorable He terms it Temperate Fatner of the Earth coming from the Elysian Fields But though truly it imports much to breath very delicate Air and that of good Temperament and to drink such Waters nevertheless it is yet more necessary for our design to eat delicate Meats and of the Temperament requisite for Wit for of these Meats is made the Blood and of the Blood the Seed and of the Seed the Child And if the Meat be delicate and of good Temperament such also is the Blood and of such Blood such Seed and of such Seed such Brains And if they be Temperate and compos'd of a delicate and subtil Substance Galen says that the Wit will be the same because the Rational Soul though it be incorruptible ever sympathizes with the Dispositions of the Brain which not being such as are requisite for Reason and Discourse it says and does a thou-Impertinences The Meats then Fathers are to eat to beget Boys of good Understanding which is the difference of Wit most ordinary in Spain are first white Bread made of Wheat-Flower and seasoned with Salt this is cold and dry and of Parts very subtil and delicate Another sort is made says Galen of red or small Wheat which indeed nourishes much making Men big-limb'd and of great bodily Force but notwithstanding is moist and of very gross Parts and destroys the Understanding I said seasoned with Salt because of all the Meats in use among Men none makes the Understanding so good as this Fossile It is cold and of more Dryness than any thing else and if we remember Heraclitus's saying he says as much A dry Light is the Wise Mind By which he would give us to understand that the Dryness of the Body makes the wisest Soul And since Salt is so dry and so appropriate to Wit it is not without reason Holy Writ gives it the Appellation of Prudence and Wisdom But you must chuse Salt that is extreamly white and that salts not much because that is compos'd of subtil and very delicate Parts and on the contrary the black is very Earthy and Ill-temper'd and salts more in small quantity What important effects Salt causes being cast upon Meats not only those taken by Men and Beasts but also by Plants Plato noted when he said That Salt not only gives relish and pleasure to the Palate but gives a formal Being to Meats to the end they may Nourish There is but one fault and that is a great one it is upon the failing of that there is nothing left in the World to supply it's Place All other things made use of by Man in this Life have their Deputy if we may so call it when they chance to fail Salt alone stands for the end it was ordained For if we want Wheaten-Bread there is Barly-Bread Rye Oaten and other Kinds and if Wine fails us there is Water Beer Milk Cyder and Perry and if we have no Cloth to cover us there are Beasts Skins with which God cloathed our first Parents when he drove them out of the Earthly Paradise nay also Cloth of Linnen Silk Canvas and other Matters And so if they should run through other things we shall find that they all have a supply for their Defect Salt excepted which was made for that use alone to which we put it To which property our Lord alludes in the Gospel when he said to his Disciples Ye are the Salt of the Earth but if the Salt have lost it's Savour wherewith shall it be Salted or as another Gospel says Wherewith shall it be seasoned To give them to understand that if they who are the Salt are corrupted or unsavoury there is no other thing can Season them as if it had said Who can find a Remedy for an Enchanter The Gospel might have said ye are the Wheaten Bread of my Church to dispense and administer the Spiritual Food and Doctrin to the Faithful and if you cast your selves away with what other thing shall I sustain my People They might have answered him with Barly-Bread as you did in the Desart But because nothing can Supply the Place of Salt God took it and chose it to let the Apostles understand what was their Duty Physitians say That Salt ordinarily heats dissolves penetrates dries collects and separates the Substance of Bodies to which it is Applied Which Properties he is to have that is the Salt of the Church and such effects ought he to produce in the Christian Auditory that is a good Preacher If not let him that has a little Wit run through these properties and he will see how much it is to the purpose that God calls Preachers by the name of Salt But neither the natural Philosophers nor others that have searched into the properties of this Fossile have observed one thing which is that if we would Unsalt in a little time that which is very Salt throwing Salt thereon to a certain degree and quantity and for a certain time it abates of its Saltness and if it exceeds it all turns to Brine Of which if any one would try the Experiment he shall find that salt Fish put to freshen in Sea-Water for a certain time shall sooner freshen than in Fresh-Water And if two pieces
of Fish equally Salt are put in two Vessels of Fresh-Water to freshen that on which a handful of Salt is thrown will freshen sooner than the other A Preacher of good Wit and full of Invention drew from this property a gentile Meditation for Flesh Elisha may have grounded on the Consideration of these natural Properties mentioned by us or at least in good part when with a Vessel of Salt he cured the poysonous and deadly Waters of a certain Country making the Earth fruitful which was barren before Which is easy to prove if we first agree upon the three Natural Principles so true that no Man can deny them The first is that of four Unions or Combinations that may be made of the first Qualities hot and moist hot and dry cold and moist cold and dry all the Physitians and Philosophers say of the first Combination that it is the utter Ruin and total Destruction of Natural Things because the Ambient Heat joyned with Moisture relaxes and disables the Elements that enter the Composition of the Mixture and rends them from their Union so far that each as Aristotle says divides a several Way The second Principle is that all Earths have not the same Quality since as Hippocrates said some are moist others dry some hot others cold some sweet others bitter some insipid and waterish and others salt some crude and others easy of digestion some rude and rough and others soft Which Nature did not without Design nor by Chance but with great Care and Providence having regard to the great Diversity of Plants and Seeds nourished by the Earth for all use not the same sort of Aliment If in two Feet of Earth as Hippocrates says Onyons Lettice Pease and Lupins are Planted Onyons draw of the Earth for their Nourishment that which is Acrid and Biting Lettice that which is Sweet Pease that which is Salt and Lupins that which is Bitter And thus there is neither Herb nor Plant that draws not from the Earth the Aliment which is most friendly and resembling it quitting the rest which it finds neither Relishable nor Familiar but after such a fashion that it fails not to make its use and advantage of other Differences of Earth in as much as Nature has made of all together a certain Preparative and Seasoning which has in it self Sweet Salt Acrid or I know not what that bites like Pepper and Spice after the manner of some Salmigondis for after another manner Experience teaches us that many Herbs blended together tho' they be of different Natures draw away the Virtue from one another What Hippocrates meant is that Lettuce draws from sweet Earth four Ounces and a Drachm of the rest and Pease from that which is Salt two Ounces and very little from other Earth and the like of the other Differences But if the Earth be insipid and without any Salt it can sustain no Plant in as much as the Formal Being of Aliments and what renders them apt to Nourish proceeds as Plato says from Salt and is not like other forc'd Meats or Junkets that awaken the Appetite to recreate it and no more From whence it is certain that the Aliments and Fruits that Nature has made Delicious in Gust are not so for any other Reason but that Nature forming them gave them what they wanted of Salt The third Principle is that the Plants have a Sense and Notice of Nourishment proper to their Nature and though distant they draw it to them as well as fly their Contraries Which Plato fairly confesses when it seems impossible to him that three or four different Aliments lying near their Roots should choose that which is not Familiar and Convenient for them and leave the other as disagreeable and Forreign and of those they digest and alter they want not the Sense to draw that which is most Refined and receive it refusing the rest and repulsing it even to the banishing it at some Distance from their Branches Which Opinion wonderfully pleased Galen so that he said I commend Plato for having call'd the Plants by the name of Animals for we canot say but they attract the Juices fit for them turning them into their Substance which not without a kind of Satisfaction and Complacence they receive In which words Galen frankly owns with Plato that Plants have a Sense and that they entertain themselves with Aliments of a good Savour and agreeable to their Appetite and abhor those of an ill Gust as if they acted the part of real Animals From these Principles we may somewhat solve the Miracle of Elisha for if the Earth corrected and cured by casting Salt thereon was poor and waterish by means of Salt it became savoury and fit to bear and if through the Heat and Moisture of the Air that is in the Caverns of the Earth the Waters were found stinking and corrupt the same was naturally remedied by the Qualities of Salt which we have mentioned and if the Earth was barren through the too great quantity of Salt by means of the same Salt sowed therein it came to be fresher The Miracle was that Elisha with one only Vessel full of Salt cured if I may say so and meliorated so great a quantity of Earth and Water as it fared in the Miracle of the Wilderness where with five Barley Loaves and two Fishes God fed five thousand Men and twelve Basketsful remained to which Act Nature served the Bread and the Fish whose property was to Support and Nourish and God bestowed on it the Quantity necessary for Refreshment Partridges and Woodcocks have the same Substance and Temperament with Wheaten Bread and Kid and Muscatel Wine and if Fathers use these Meats as we have above specified they will beget Children of good Understanding And if they would have a Child of a great Memory let them eat eight or nine days before the Act of Copulation Trouts Salmons Lampreys Barbels and Eels which Meats produce a moist and clammy Seed These two Qualities as we have said before make the Memory easy to receive and very tenacious to keep the Figures long By Pidgeons Kid Onyons Garlic Leeks Radishes Pepper Vinegar White-Wine Honey and all sorts of Spice the Seed is made hot and dry and of very delicate Parts The Boy that is engendred from this Food will be of a great Imagination but not of like Understanding by means of much Heat and of little Memory from great Dryness Such are very dangerous to a State because their Heat inclines them to many Vices and Evils and gives them Wit and Spirit to put them in practice But if they be kept under the Common-Wealth will receive more Service from their Imaginations than from their Understandings or Memories The Physitians finding by Experience the great Power the Temperament of the Brain has to make a Man Wise and Considerate have invented a certain Medicine composed after such a manner and provided with such qualities that being taken in a due Measure
require one and the same Quality which is Dryness and therefore the Precepts and Rules we are to lay down for making Children Wise will be no less conducing to their Health and long Life It will be convenient then as soon as the Child is born of Parents that are Nice and Delicate supposing it's Flesh colder and moister than is convenient for Child-hood to wash it in salt hot Water which in the Opinion of all Physicians drys and hardens the Flesh confirms the Sinews and makes the Child strong and manly And by wasting the superfluous Moisture of the Brain makes him Witty and frees him from many dangerous Diseases On the contrary the Bath being of fresh hot Water for that the same moistens the Flesh says Hippocrates breeds Five evils Effeminacy of Flesh Weakness of the Sinews Dulness of Wit a Flux of Blood and Failure of Courage But if the Child come into the World with too much Dryness it is convenient to wash him often in fresh hot Water and thus Hippocrates directs to Bath Children long in warm Water to prevent Convulsions to make them grow apace and be of better Complexion It is certain this is to be meant of Children that are born Dry whose evil Temperament is necessary to be corrected by recourse to the contrary Qualities The Germans says Galen have a Custom to Bath their New-born Children in a River conceiting that as the Iron glowing out of the Furnace is made stronger by dipping it in cold Water even so the Child reeking from the Mothers Womb is render'd of greater Force and Vigor by washing him in cold Water This is condemn'd by Galen as a beastly Practice and he has Reason for put the Case that by this way the Skin is hardned and closed and not so easily exposed to the Injuries of the Air yet it is offended by the Excrements of the Body through which for want of its being open and pervious they cannot Sweat and pass out A better and more secure Expedient is to Bath the Children that abound in Moisture in salt hot Water for by wasting in them the superfluous Moisture they are made very Healthy and by closing the Pores they will not suffer by any Accident whatever nor will their Excrements be so shut up that the Passages may not open to let them out And Nature is so forcible that if she can't find a common Way she will find out another to serve the Turn And when all others fail she knows how to make new Ways to expel what offends her And thus of two Extremes it is more convenient for Health to have the Skin hard and somewhat clos'd than too tender and open The second Thing requir'd is that soon after the Child is born he should be made acquainted with the Winds and change of Air and not kept still lockt up in a Chamber because that will render it Tender Effeminate Foolish Feeble and in three Days it will die Nothing says Hippocrates so much debilitates the Body as to be always in warm Places immured from Heat and Cold. Nor do's any thing conduce more to Health than freely to expose the Body to all Winds Hot Cold Moist and Dry Which made Aristotle ask What the Reason is why those that live in Champion Countries are more Healthy and of a better Complexion than those that dwell in Marshes And the Difficulty encreases the more considering the hard Life they lead sleeping on the Ground in their Clothes in open Air against the Sun the Cold or Water faring withal so coarsly The same may be demanded of Shepherds who are the Healthiest of all Men and the Reason is because they have made a League with all the Qualities of the Air and shrink at nothing On the Contrary we plainly see that a Man affecting to be Nice and to be on his Guard against the Sun the Cold the Serene and the Wind in three Days is a dead Man Therefore it may well be said Whosoever shall save his Life shall lose it Because no Man is proof against all the Changes of the Air And therefore it 's better to Accustom ones self to all that a Man may not be in Pain or always in Suspence The Error of the Vulgar lies in thinking that the Child is born so tender and delicate that it cannot bear passing from it's Mothers Belly where there is so much Heat into the Region of the cold Air without great Damage But they are utterly mistaken For tho' Germany be so Cold they throw their Children reeking into the River and tho' 't is so Beastly an Action it neither do's them harm nor kills them The third Thing convenient to be done is to find out a young Nurse of a hot and dry Constitution or according to our Doctrin cold and moist in the first Degree inured to Hardship us'd to lie on the bare Ground a spare Feeder and poorly Clad and seasoned with all sorts of Weather Such a one will have sound Milk as being accustom'd to all Changes of Air and the Child brought up by her many Days together will become well-limbed and lusty And if she be Discreet and Prudent the same will be of much advantage to his Wit because her Milk is very hot and dry Which two Qualities correct the superfluous Coldness and Moisture the Child drew from the Womb. How much it imports for the Child's Strength to suck such a Milk well exercised plainly appears in Colts foaled from Mares trained to the Plow and Harrow which prove the fleetest Coursers and endure longest in Labour But if their Dams run up and down idle in Pastures they flag after the first Carier The Order then to be observ'd with the Nurse is to take her home four or five Months before the Birth and to give her the same Meats to eat that the Lying-in-Mother used that she may have time to spend the Blood and bad Humors made by the Ill-Meats she eat before to the end the Child as soon as it is born may suck the like Milk to that it drew in the Mothers Belly at least made from the same Meats The fourth is not to accustom the Child to sleep on a soft Bed nor to load him with Clothes nor to cram him too much For these three Things says Hippocrates dry and shrink the Flesh and their Contraries fill and stretch it And in so doing the Child will be of great Wit very Healthy and long Liv'd by reason of his Dryness And from the contrary he will prove Fair Fat full of Blood and Blockish Which Constitution Hippocrates calls Athletic esteeming it very dangerous According to this Receipt and Order of Life the wisest Man that ever was in the World was educated that was Christ our Redeemer as far as he was Man saving that being born in Nazareth his Mother may be had no Salt-water at hand to Bath him But this was a Custom of the Jews and of all Asia