The Colloquies of Erasmus Part 105

_Fa._ It proceeds from the Disposition of the Mind.

_Eu._ That won't do. Whence comes it that one who was formerly of a very ready Wit, and a retentive Memory, becomes afterwards stupid and forgetful, either by a Blow or a Fall, by Sickness or old Age?

_Fa._ Now you seem to play the Sophister with me.

_Eu._ Then do you play the Sophistress with me.

_Fa._ I suppose you would infer, that as the Mind sees and hears by the Eyes and Ears, so by some Organs it also understands, remembers, loves, hates, is provoked and appeas'd?

_Eu._ Right.

_Fa._ But pray what are those Organs, and where are they situated?

_Eu._ As to the Eyes, you see where they are.

_Fa._ I know well enough where the Ears, and the Nose, and the Palate are; and that the Body is all over sensible of the Touch, unless when some Member is seized with a Numbness.

_Eu._ When a Foot is cut off, yet the Mind understands.

_Fa._ It does so, and when a Hand is cut off too.

_Eu._ A Person that receives a violent Blow on the Temples, or hinder-Part of his Head, falls down like one that is dead, and is unsensible.

_Fa._ I have sometimes seen that myself.

_Eu._ Hence it is to be collected, that the Organs of the Will, Understanding, and Memory, are placed within the Skull, being not so cra.s.s as the Eyes and Ears, and yet are material, in as much as the most subtile Spirits that we have in the Body are corporeal.

_Fa._ And can they be vitiated with Meat and Drink too?

_Eu._ Yes.

_Fa._ The Brain is a great Way off from the Stomach.

_Eu._ And so is the Funnel of a Chimney from the Fire-Hearth, yet if you sit upon it you'll feel the Smoke.

_Fa._ I shan't try that Experiment.

_Eu._ Well, if you won't believe me, ask the Storks. And so it is of Moment what Spirits, and what Vapours ascend from the Stomach to the Brain, and the Organs of the Mind. For if these are crude or cold they stay in the Stomach.

_Fa._ Pshaw! You're describing to me an Alembick, in which we distil Simple-Waters.

_Eu._ You don't guess much amiss. For the Liver, to which the Gall adheres, is the Fire-Place; the Stomach, the Pan; the Scull, the Top of the Still; and if you please, you may call the Nose the Pipe of it. And from this Flux or Reflux of Humours, almost all Manner of Diseases proceed, according as a different Humour falls down after a different Manner, sometimes into the Eyes, sometimes into the Stomach, sometimes into the Shoulders, and sometimes into the Neck, and elsewhere. And that you may understand me the better, why have those that guzzle a great Deal of Wine bad Memories? Why are those that feed upon light Food, not of so heavy a Disposition? Why does Coriander help the Memory? Why does h.e.l.lebore purge the Memory? Why does a great Expletion cause an Epilepsy, which at once brings a Stupor upon all the Senses, as in a profound Sleep? In the last Place, as violent Thirst or Want weaken the Strength of Wit or Memory in Boys, so Food eaten immoderately makes Boys dull-headed, if we believe _Aristotle_; in that the Fire of the Mind is extinguish'd by the heaping on too much Matter.

_Fa._ Why then, is the Mind corporeal, so as to be affected with corporeal Things?

_Eu._ Indeed the Nature itself of the rational Soul is not corrupted; but the Power and Action of it are impeded by the Organs being vitiated, as the Art of an Artist will stand him in no Stead, if he has not Instruments.

_Fa._ Of what Bulk, and in what Form is the Mind?

_Eu._ You ask a ridiculous Question, what Bulk and Form the Mind is of, when you have allow'd it to be incorporeal.

_Fa._ I mean the Body that is felt.

_Eu._ Nay, those Bodies that are not to be felt are the most perfect Bodies, as G.o.d and the Angels.

_Fa._ I have heard that G.o.d and Angels are Spirits, but we feel the Spirit.

_Eu._ The Holy Scriptures condescend to those low Expressions, because of the Dullness of Men, to signify a Mind pure from all Commerce of sensible Things.

_Fa._ Then what is the Difference between an Angel and a Mind?

_Eu._ The same that is between a Snail and a c.o.c.kle, or, if you like the Comparison better, a Tortoise.

_Fa._ Then the Body is rather the Habitation of the Mind than the Instrument of it.

_Eu._ There is no Absurdity in calling an adjunct Instrument an Habitation. Philosophers are divided in their Opinions about this. Some call the Body the Garment of the Soul, some the House, some the Instrument, and some the Harmony; call it by which of these you will, it will follow that the Actions of the Mind are impeded by the Affections of the Body. In the first Place, if the Body is to the Mind that which a Garment is to the Body, the Garment of _Hercules_ informs us how much a Garment contributes to the Health of the Body, not to take any Notice of Colours of Hairs or of Skins. But as to that Question, whether one and the same Soul is capable of wearing out many Bodies, it shall be left to _Pythagoras_.

_Fa._ If, according to _Pythagoras_, we could make Use of Change of Bodies, as we do of Apparel, it would be convenient to take a fat Body, and of a thick Texture, in Winter Time, and a thinner and lighter Body in Summer Time.

_Eu._ But I am of the Opinion, that if we wore out our Body at last as we do our Cloaths; it would not be convenient; for so having worn out many Bodies, the Soul itself would grow old and die.

_Fa._ It would not truly.

_Eu._ As the Sort of Garment that is worn hath an Influence on the Health and Agility of the Body, so it is of great Moment what Body the Soul wears.

_Fa._ If indeed the Body is the Garment of the Soul, I see a great many that are dress'd after a very different Manner.

_Eu._ Right, and yet some Part of this Matter is in our own Power, how conveniently our Souls shall be cloathed.

_Fa._ Come, have done with the Garment, and say something concerning the Habitation.

_Eu._ But, _Fabulla_, that what I say to you mayn't be thought a Fiction, the _Lord Jesus_ calls his Body a _Temple_, and the Apostle _Peter_ calls his a _Tabernacle_. And there have been some that have call'd the Body the Sepulchre of the Soul, supposing it was call'd [Greek: soma], as tho' it were [Greek: sema]. Some call it the Prison of the Mind, and some the Fortress or fortify'd Castle. The Minds of Persons that are pure in every Part, dwell in the Temple. They whose Minds are not taken up with the Love of corporeal Things, dwell in a Tent, and are ready to come forth as soon as the Commander calls. The Soul of those that are wholly blinded with Vice and Filthiness, so that they never breathe after the Air of Gospel Liberty, lies in a Sepulchre.

But they that wrestle hard with their Vices, and can't yet be able to do what they would do, their Soul dwells in a Prison, whence they frequently cry out to the Deliverer of all, _Bring my Soul out of Prison, that I may praise thy Name, O Lord._ They who fight strenuously with Satan, watching and guarding against his Snares, who goes about as _a roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour;_ their Soul is as it were in a Garison, out of which they must not go without the General's Leave.

_Fa._ If the Body be the Habitation or House of the Soul, I see a great many whose Mind is very illy seated.

_Eu._ It is so, that is to say, in Houses where it rains in, that are dark, exposed to all Winds, that are smoaky, damp, decay'd, and ruinous, and such as are filthy and infected: and yet _Cato_ accounts it the princ.i.p.al Happiness of a Man, to dwell handsomly.

_Fa._ It were tolerable, if there was any pa.s.sing out of one House into another.

_Eu._ There's no going out before the Landlord calls out. But tho' we can't go out, yet we may by our Art and Care make the Habitation of our Mind commodious; as in a House the Windows are changed, the Floor taken up, the Walls are either plaistered or wainscotted, and the Situation may be purified with Fire or Perfume. But this is a very hard Matter, in an old Body that is near its Ruin. But it is of great Advantage to the Body of a Child, to take the Care of it that ought to be taken presently after its Birth.

_Fa._ You would have Mothers and Nurses to be Doctors.

_Eu._ So indeed I would, as to the Choice and moderate Use of Meat, Drink, Motion, Sleep, Baths, Unctions, Frictions, and Cloathings. How many are there, think you, who are expos'd to grievous Diseases and Vices, as Epilepsies, Leanness, Weakness, Deafness, broken Backs, crooked Limbs, a weak Brain, disturbed Minds, and for no other Reason than that their Nurses have not taken a due Care of them?

_Fa._ I wonder you are not rather a _Franciscan_ than a Painter, who preach so finely.