Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	love_v	mean_v	sweet_n	16	3	16.4561	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51674	Father Malebranche his treatise concerning the search after truth The whole work complete. To which is added the author's Treatise of nature and grace: being a consequence of the principles contained in the search. Together with his answer to the animadversions upon the first volume: his defence against the accusations of Monsieur De la Ville, &c. relating to the same subject. All translated by T. Taylor, M.A. late of Magdalen College in Oxford.	Malebranche, Nicolas, 1638-1715.; Taylor, Thomas, 1669 or 70-1735.; Malebranche, Nicolas, 1638-1715. Traité de la nature et de la grace. English.	1700 (1700)	Wing M318; ESTC R3403	829,942	418

same blow produces very different motions and consequently excites very different Sensations in a Man of a Robust Constitution and in a Child or a Woman of a tender make Thus since we cannot be ascertain'd that there are two Persons in the World who have the Organs of their Senses exactly match'd we cannot be assur'd there are two Persons in the World who have altogether the same Sensations of the same Objects This is the Original cause of the strange Variety which is found in the Inclinations of Men. Some there are who are extremely pleas'd with Musick others find nothing agreeable in it And even between these who delight in it some one sort of Musick some another according to that almost Infinite Diversity which is found in the Fibres of the Auditory Nerve in the Blood and the Animal Spirits How great for instance is the difference between the Musick of Italy of France of the Chinese and other People and consequently between the Relish these different People have of these different sorts of Musick It is usual likewise for the same Men at several times to receive different Impressions from the same Consorts For if the Imagination be well warm'd by a great plenty of brisk and active Spirits a Man is much more pleas'd with a bolder Hand or a Voluntarie wherein there are many Discords than with a softer Musick that is compos'd with exacter Rules and a Mathematical Niceness Experience proves this and 't is easie to give a Reason for it 'T is just the same with Smells He that loves an Orange-flower possibly cannot endure a Rose and so on the contrary As for Tasts there is no less a Diversity in them than in the other Sensations Sawces must be made wholly different equally to please different Men or equally to please the same Person at different times One loves Sweet another Sowre One loves the Taste of Wine another abhors it the same Person who thinks it pleasant when he 's in Health finds it bitter in a Fever and so 't is with the other Senses And yet all Men are fond of Pleasure they all delight in agreeable Sensations And in this have all the same Inclinations They receive not therefore the same Sensations from the same Objects since they do not love them equally alike Thus that which makes one Man say he likes sweet things is the agreeable Sensation he has of them and that which makes another say he does not love sweet things is indeed because he has a different Sensation from him that loves them And so in saying he loves not sweet things it is not imply'd that he would not have the same Sensation as the other but only that he has it not Wherefore 't is an Impropriety of Speech for a Man to say he loves not what is Sweet he should say he loves not Sugar or Honey or the like which to others seem sweet and agreeable and that he has not the same Taste as others because the Fibres of his Tongue are differently dispos'd But to give a sensible Instance Let us suppose that among twenty Men there were some one of them whose Hands were Cold and that he was unacquainted with the words they make use of in England to explain the Sensation of Heat and Cold by and on the contrary that the Hands of all the rest were extreamly Hot. If in Winter some Water somewhat frigid should be brought them all to wash in those whose Hands were very Hot washing after each other might very well say This Water is very Cold I can't endure it But when the other whose Hands were extreamly Cold came to wash at last he might say on the contrary I can't imagine Gentlemen why ye like not the Cold Water for my part I take pleasure in feeling it Cold and washing in it It is manifest in this particular instance That the last in saying he lov'd the Cold could mean nothing else but that he lov'd the Heat and that he felt the Water Hot whilst others felt the contrary Thus when a Man says I love what is bitter and can't endure sweets no more is meant thereby than that he has not the same Sensations as those who say they love sweets and have an aversion to what is bitter It is certain therefore that a Sensation which is agreeable to one Man is so to all others who have the same but the same Objects does not cause the same Sensation in all Men because of the different disposition of the Organs of the Senses which is a thing of greatest consequence to be observ'd both as to Natural and Moral Philosophy To this only one Objection can be made and that very easie to be answer'd which is this It sometimes happens that those very Persons who love extreamly some sorts of Meat at length shall hate them in as great a degree either because in eating they met with some uncleanliness in the Dish which surpriz'd and disgusted them or because they surfeited on them by eating to excess or for several other reasons These Men 't is objected love not the same Sensations as they lov'd before For still though they eat the same Meats yet they find them no longer pleasant and palatable In answering this Objection it must be observ'd that these Men upon eating those Meats to which they have so great an abhorrence and loathing have two very different Sensations at the same time They have that of the Meat which they eat as 't is suppos'd in the Objection And they have yet another Sensation of Distaste or Loathing which proceeds for instance from a strong imagination of some uncleanliness they have formerly seen mingled with what they eat The reason of this is that when two Motions are occasion'd in the Brain at the same time one of them is never excited without the other unless it be some considerable time after Thus because the Agreeable is always accompany'd with the Loathsome Sensation and we usually confound things which happen at the same time we imagine with our selves that this Sensation which was formerly pleasant and agreeable is no longer so And yet if it were always the same it must necessarily be always agreeable Wherefore supposing it to be disagreeable and unpleasant 't is because it is joyn'd and confounded with another Sensation which is more distastful than it is it self agreeable There is much more difficulty to prove that Colours and such other Sensations which I term'd the Faint and Languid are not the same in all Mankind Because all these Sensations affect the Soul so weakly that a Man cannot distinguish as he may in Tasts or other more powerful and lively Sensations whether one is more agreeable than another nor discover the diversity of Mens Sensations by the variety of Pleasure or Distast which might be found in different Persons Yet Reason which shews that the other Sensations are not all alike in different Persons does likewise shew there must necessarily be variety in

Manners than Truth it self and rather to entertain their Mind with the Noise and Emptiness of Words than with the Solidity of Things 'T is for Men of a Vulgar Stamp 't is for Souls of Flesh and Blood to suffer themselves to be won with Rhetorical Periods and captivated with Figures and Motions that awake and excite the Passions Omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque Inversis quae sub verbis latitantia cern●nt Veráque constituunt quae bell● tangere possunt Aures lepido quae sunt fucata sonore But wise Men endeavour to arm themselves against the malignant force and the powerful charms of these sensible Manners The Senses impose on them as well as on other Men since they are no more than Men but they have the Wisdom to disregard the Reports they make They imitate that famous Example of the Judges of the Ar●opagus who upon a severe Penalty forbad their Advocates the use of any fallacious Words and Figures and never heard them plead but in the dark for fear the Pleasantness of their Words and Insinuating Gestures should perswade them to any thing prejudicial to Truth and Justice and to the end they might apply themselves with less distraction to the Solidity of their Reasons CHAP. XIX Two other Examples I. The first concerning our Errors about the Nature of Bodies II. The second concerning those which respect the Qualities of the same Bodies WE have been shewing that there are a vast multitude of Errors which are originally owing to the strong Application of the Soul to that which enters by the Senses and that Lukewarmness and Indifference to things represented by the Understanding We have given an Instance of very considerable Importance in Morality taken from the Conversation of Men we shall produce some others drawn from the Commerce we have with the rest of Nature which are absolutely necessary to be observ'd in Natural Philosophy One of the Principal Errors we fall into in point of Natural Philosophy is our Imagining there is much more Substance in Sensible than in Imperceptible Bodies The generallity of Men are of Opinion there is much more Matter in Gold and Lead than in Air and Water And Children who have made no Observation by their Senses of the Effects of Air ordinarily imagine it has nothing of Reality in it Gold and Lead are extreamly ponderous very hard and very sensible Water and Air on the contrary are scarce perceptible by the Senses Whence Men conclude the former are more real than the other They judge of the Truth of things by the Sensible Impression which is ever fallacious and they neglect the clear and distinct Idea's of the Intellect which never deceives us because that which is sensible affects us and challenges our Application but that which is Intelligible lays us to sleep These false Judgments respect the Substance of Bodies let us now see the others about the Qualities of the same Bodies 'T is the way for Men almost universally to judge that the Objects which excite in them the most Pleasant Sensations are the most Perfect and Pure of all others without so much as knowing wherein the Perfection and Purity of Ma●ter consists and indeed without caring whether they do or not They say for instance that Mud is Impure and that the clearest Water is very pure But Camels which love Muddy Water and those Animals which delight to wallow in Mire would be of another opinion They are Beasts 't is true but those Men who love the Entrails of a Woodcock and the Excrements of a Civit-Cat do not say they are Impure though they say so of the Excrements of all other Animals Finally Musk and Amber are in general Esteem with all Men though they are suppos'd to be nothing but Ordure It is certain Men judge of the Perfection and Purity of Matter with Relation to their own Senses whence it falls out that the Senses being different in all Men as has been abundantly explain'd they must needs judge very differently of the Purity and Perfection of Matter So that those Books which are daily compos'd upon the Imaginary Perfections attributed to certain Bodies must needs be stuff'd with Errors in all the strange and odd variety that can be since the Reasonings they contain are founded only on the false confus'd and irregular Idea's of the Senses It is not the Part of Philosophers to call Matter Pure or Impure till they know what they precisely mean by the Words Pure and Impure For a Man should never talk without knowing what he says that is to say without having distinct Idea's which answer to the Terms he uses Now if they had fixt clear and distinct Idea's to each of these Terms they would see that what they call Pure would prove often very Impure and what seems to them Impure would be found pure in an high degree If for instance they would have that Matter to be most Pure and Perfect whose Parts are most fine and disunited and easiest to be mov'd Gold Silver and Precious Stones would be extreamly Imperfect Bodies Air and Fire on the other hand would be the most perfect When Flesh began to putrifie and cast a very noisom stench it would then be commencing its Perfection and stinking Carrion would be a more perfect Body than sound and common Flesh. Again if on the other hand they would have those to be the most perfect Bodies the parts whereof are most gross solid and difficult to be mov'd the Earth would be perfecter than Gold and Air and Fire would be more imperfect Bodies But if they are not willing to affix the clear and distinct Idea's I have mention'd to the Terms Pure and Perfect let them substitute others in their room But if they pretend to define these words only by sensible Notions they will eternally confound things with one another since the Signification of the Terms that express them can never be fix'd and determin'd All Men as we have already prov'd have very different Sensations of the same Objects Wherefore a Man ought not to define these Objects by the Sensations he has of them unless he has a mind to be unintelligible and to put all things in confusion But at the bottom there is no matter to be found not that which the Heavens are fram'd of which has more Perfection in it than any other All that Matter seems capable of are Figures and Motions and 't is indifferent to it whether it has Figures and Motions regular or irregular Reason does not tell us that the Sun is more Perfect or more Luminous than Dirt nor that the Celebrated Beauties of Romancers and Poets have any advantage over the most corrupted Carcasses they are our false and treacherous Senses thot tell us this It is in vain for Men to cry out against what we say all their Railleries and Exclamations will appear frigid and ridiculous to such as shall seriously examine the Reasons we have alledged Those who

there were Wheels and Pumps to raise the Water Nevertheless I can't see why divining is not sometimes allowable provided a Man sets not up for a Prophet and speaks not in too positive a strain I rather think he is permitted to speak his Thoughts whilst he pretends not to be Infallible nor Lords it unjustly over others by dogmatical Decisions or by the help of Scientifick Terms 'T is not always divining to speak of things which are not visible and which contradict Prejudices If so be we speak no more than we easily conceive and which readily makes its way into the mind of others who desire to understand Reason I say then that supposing the general Laws of the Communication of Motions such as they are there is great Probability that the particular Communication of the Mother's Brain with that of her Infant is necessary to form its Body in a requisite manner or at least is necessary to give the Brain of the Infant certain dispositions which ought to vary according to different Times and Countries as I have explain'd in the same Chapter I confess there is no Communication between the Brain of an Hen and that of a Chicken in the Egg which nevertheless is perfectly well form'd But it ought to be observ'd that the Chicken is farther advanc'd in the Egg when the Hen lays it than the Foetus when it descends into the Matrix which may well be concluded since there goes less time to the hatching Chickens than there goes to the bringing forth Whelps though the Belly of the Bitch being very hot and her Blood in perpetual motion the Whelps should be sooner form'd than the Eggs hatch'd were not the Chickens farther advanc'd in their Eggs than the Whelps in their Cicatricles Now there is great probability that the formation of the Chicken in the Egg before it was laid was effected by the communication I am speaking of I answer in the second place that the growth of the Body of Fowls is possibly more conformable to the general laws of Motion than that of four-footed Animals and that so the communication of the Females Brain with that of her young ones is not so necessary in Fowls as in other Animals For the reason that makes that communication necessary is probably the remedying the defect of these general Laws which in some particular Cases are insufficient to regulate the Formation and Growth of Animals I answer lastly there is no such necessity to the preservation of the Life of Birds that they should have so many particular Dispositions in their Brain as other Animals They have Wings to fly harm and to secure their feed and have no need of all that particular Mechanism which is the principle of the cunning and docility of some domestick Creatures Therefore the old ones need not instruct their young in many things as they breed them nor capacitate them to be taught many afterwards by giving them a disposition of Brain that 's fit for Docility Those who breed young Dogs for the Game sometimes find those which naturally set meerly from the instruction they receiv'd from their Damm who often us'd to set with them in her Belly There is a great difference almost always observable in the breed of these Creatures some of which are much more Docil and Tractable than others of the same Species But I do not think there ever was a Fowl that taught any thing extraordinary to her young that a Hen for Example ever hatch'd a Chicken who could do any thing but what they all do naturally Birds then are not so tractable or capable of Instruction as other Animals The Disposition of their Brain is not ordinarily capable of many Changes nor do they act so much by Imitation as some domestick Animals Young Ducks which follow an Hen don't stay for her Example to take the Water and the Chickens on the contrary never betake themselves to swim though hatch'd and led by a Duck that loves the Water But there are Animals that easily and readily imitate the uncommon Motions which they see others do However I do not pretend that much stress is to be laid on these last Reflections since they are not necessary to establish my Opinion Second OBJECTION against the Twelfth Article 'T is likewise divining to affirm That the Mother before her Sin might have any intercourse with her Embryo there being no necessary relation between our Thoughts and Motions happening in our Brain And therefore that Communication between the Mother's and the Infant 's Brain is useless ANSWER It is evident That without this Communication the Infant was incapable of having any Commerce with its Mother or the Mother with her Infant without a particular Miracle Now before the Sin Order requir'd That the Mother should have notice of all the Corporeal wants of her Infant and that the Infant should resent its Obligations to its Parents Therefore since all things were in Order before the Sin and that God acts always agreeably to Order the Mother and the Child had some Commerce by means of this Communication To understand wherein this Commerce may have consisted it must be remembred That the Connexion of the Tracks of the Brain with the Ideas of the Soul may be several ways effected either by Nature or by the Institution of Men or some other way as I have shewn how in the Second Book In beholding a Square or the Look of a Person suffering any Pain the Idea of a Square or of an afflicted Person rises in the Mind This is common to all Nations and the Connexion between these Ideas and these Traces is natural When an Englishman hears pronounc'd or reads the Word Square he has likewise the Idea of a Square but the Connexion which is between the Sound or the Letters of that Word and its Idea is not natural nor is it general with all the World I say then That the Mother and her Infant must naturally have had a Correspondence between them upon all the things that could be represented to the Mind by natural Connexions That if the Mother for Instance had seen a Square the Infant would have seen one too and that if the Infant had imagin'd any Figure he would have likewise excited the Traces of the same Figure in the Imagination of his Mother But they would have had no Commerce together about things of a purely Spiritual Nature nor even about Corporeal things whenever they conceiv'd them without the help of the Senses and Imagination The Mother might have thought on GOD have heard or read the Word Square or the like and yet the Child not have discover'd what were her Thoughts thereof unless in Tract of Time she should have setled a new Commerce of intellectual Ideas with it much what the same with that of Nurses when they teach their Children to speak I explain and prove these things One would think I had sufficiently prov'd them by the Explication I gave of the Cause of