Examen de ingenios, or, The tryal of wits discovering the great difference of wits among men, and what sort of learning suits best with each genius / published originally in Spanish by Doctor Juan Huartes ; and made English from the most correct edition by Mr. Bellamy.

The Author's Supplement to the foregoing Proem.

The Reason why Men are of different Sentiments and Opinions.

I Have for some Days past been perplext in my Mind with a Doubt (Curious Reader) of which conceiving the Solution to be very difficult, and hid from my Understanding, I own I have always hitherto dissembled it; but now, that I can no longer endure to be so often Teiz'd, I am resolved to find the Decision of it, cost what it will. This Doubt is to know how it can be, seeing all Men are of the same indivisible Species, and the Powers of the Rational Soul (the Me∣mory, Understanding, Imagination, and Will) of the same perfect Nature in every Body, and which encreases the Difficulty, the Understand∣ing, a Spiritual Faculty, and acting with material Organs, yet nevertheless we see by Experience, if a Thousand Persons meet together, to give their Opinion upon any Point, each will have his particu∣lar Sentiment, and not one Man's shall agree with anothers, whence comes that Saying, That there are a Thousand Differences of Opinion among Men, that each discerns things, and uses them after his own Fa∣shion,

that their Inclinations are ever disagreeing, and the Designs of every Man's Life wholly New and Sin∣gular.

Not one of the Antient or Modern Philosophers that I know of has so much as touched upon this Difficulty to clear it, according to my Opinion, from its Obscurity, although every one complains enough of the Difference of Mens Judgments and Gusts. For which reason I must break the Ice, and open the Way, making use of my own In∣vention, as in some other Important Questions, which have never yet been discuss'd by any Body else. I find therefore in the particular Composi∣tion of each Man, there is a certain Je ne sçay quois, that makes us naturally fall into this diversity of Opinions, nay whether we will or no, which is neither Hatred nor Passion, nor an Inclination to speak ill, or contradict, as they imagine that Write long Epistles Dedicatory, to those they call their Mecaenas's, imploring their Favour, and singular Protection; but to assign what it is, and by what Principles to be attained, there lies the Point, and Knot of the Business.

To understand this then it must be observ'd, that it has been the old Opinion of some great Physicians, that be we what we will who inhabit the intemperate Regions, we are actually and in earnest sickly, and have some hurt, although that we were begot and born with it, and never enjoy∣ed a better Temperament, yet we perceive it not, but if we arm against the depraved Actions of our Faculties, and the Cares that are incident every moment (not knowing whence or why) we shall soon be of Opinion, that there is no Man can say in truth he is free from Pains and Diseases.

All Physicians agree, that perfect Health in Man consists in a certain Equality of the four First Qualities, wherein Heat over-ballances not Gold, nor Moisture Driness; from which Equality when ever a Man receds, 'tis impossible he should be so well as he us'd to be; and the reason of it is clear, because when a Man is in right Temper, he acts perfectly well, and it cannot well be otherwise when a Man is in ill Temper (which is the con∣trary) but his Faculties will be Vitiated, and his Actions somewhat defective. Now to preserve this State of Health, Heaven ought always to shed the same Influence, there should be neither Win∣ter, nor Summer, nor Autumn, Man should not roll on through the Course of so many Years; the Motions of Soul and Body should always be equal and uniform; in Sleeping and Waking, Eating and Drinking, they should be moderate, minding nothing but to maintain this good Temperament, which is a thing unattainable as well by the Art of Physic as by Nature.

God only had done this in the Person of Adam, placing him in the earthly Paradice, and giving him the Tree of Life to eat, which had that Proper∣ty to preserve Man in the same Degrees of perfect Health, with which he was Born. But other Men living as they do, in some intemperate Regions, and subject to such Alteration of Weather, in the Winter, Summer and Autumn and passing thro' so many different Stages of Life, and eating such variety of Meats, hot and cold, must of Course find themselves disorder'd, and that they hourly lose that happy Harmony of those four First Qua∣lities, which we see evidently in all Men that are Born, some are Flegmatic, others Sanguine, some Choleric, others Melancholic, and not one Tem∣perate,

except by Miracle; and if there be any such, his good Temperament lasts not a moment without Change and Alteration.

Galen blames these Physicians, declaring they speak with too much Rigour; for Man's Health consists not in an indivisible Point, but has some scope and latitude; for the first Qualities may somewhat decline from the perfect Temperament, without our falling Sick upon it. The Flegmatic are visibly far from it, because of their too great Coldness and Moisture; the Choleric, by reason of their excessive Heat and Driness; the Melan∣cholic, because of their extraordinary Coldness and Driness; yet nevertheless all these fail not to live in Health, without Pain or Sickness; and tho' it be true that they are not so perfectly well as those that are temperate, yet they subsist without any considerable Inconvenience, and without ha∣ving recourse to Physic. For which reason Physic it self conserves them in their natural Dispositions, though Galen said that these were Vitious Intempe∣rances, and that they must be treated as Diseases, applying to each the Qualities contrary to them, to reduce them to that perfect Health, in which is no Pain, or Infirmity whatever. Of this we have plain Proof; for Nature in all her Efforts and In∣clinations endeavours not the Preservation of him that is of an ill Constitution, by things that accord with his Nature, but to this end will always ra∣ther use those that are most contrary to it, as if he really were sick; thus we observe the Summer agrees best with the Choleric, the Winter worst; and that Wine inflames him, but Water makes him easier and pleasanter; which occasion'd Hip∣pocrates to say, That the Good and Welfare of a hot Constitution consisted in drinking Water, and in Re∣freshment.

But to attain the end I propose, there is no necessity to say, that this evil Constitution is a Disease, as these Antient Physicians have direct∣ly maintain'd, or an imperfect Health, as Galen rather intimates, since neither the one nor the other Opinion, is to be clearly drawn from what I pretend to prove, but the cause of the ill Consti∣tution of Men, and their not being in the Purity and Vigour of their Natural Constitution, is, that they are inclined to quite different Gusts, and Appetites, not only in what touches the Irascible and Concupiscible Faculty, but also in things which regard the Rational Soul. Which we may easily observe, if we run through all the govern∣ing Powers in the Man of ill Constitution. He that is Choleric, following his Natural Faculties, requires cold and moist Meats; and he that is Phlegmatic, claims hot and dry. The Choleric pursuing the generative Virtue is employ'd in quest of Women, who are the Aversion of the Phlegmatic. The Choleric, according to the Ira∣scible Faculty, is Ambitious of Honour, aspiring to Greatness and Glory, to Command and Rule like a Superior, and Magisterially: The Phleg∣matic has more satisfaction in Sleeping soundly, than in being Lord of the Universe; but now to what end serves this Knowledge of the different Inclinations of Men? It is to consider the Diver∣sity there is amongst the same Persons, Choleric, Phlegmatic, Sanguine, or Melancholic, because of the vast difference between Choler, Phlegm, Blood, and Melancholy; in order to understand more clearly, that the Variety of Ill Constitutions and Diseases among Men is absolutely the Cause of the Diversity of their Judgments, (as far as respects the Rational Part) it will be convenient to set

down here an Instance in the External Faculties, because the same thing we observe in them, we may also conclude in the others.

All the Natural Philosophers are agreed, that all the Faculties with which an Act of Sensation is performed, should be clear and pure from the Tinctures of the sensible Object; not to make quite different and absolutely false Reports of the same. For Instance, let us suppose Four Men defective in the Composition of the Organ of Sight, and that in one, a drop of Blood should be mixt with the Christallin Humour, in the other a drop of Choler, in the third one of Phlegm, and in the fourth one of Melancholy; if these know nothing of their Defects, we will lay before their Eyes a piece of Blue Cloath to judge of its true Colour; 'tis certain the first will say 'tis Scarlet, the second that it is Yellow, the third that it is White, and the fourth that it is Black, and that each of them would make no difficulty to swear it, and to ridicule his Companion upon it, as a Fellow that suffers him∣self to be deceived in a thing so clear: And if we should let these four drops of Humour fall down to the Tongue, and give to these Four Per∣sons a Glass of Water to drink, one would say, it was sweet; another, it was bitter; the third, it was salt; and the last, that it was sower. Thus you see here Four different Judgments in two Qualities, because each has his sensory Organs tinctured, not one of them all hitting upon the Truth. The same Reason and Proportion is kept by the Internal Faculties, in the Place of their Objects; and thus it would be should we carry up these Four Humours even to the Brain; if they happened to cause an Inflammation there, we should see a Thousand sorts of Follies and Extra∣vagances;

whence comes the Saying, That every Man has his blind-side, in which he is obstinate. Those who are not incommoded with this Distemper'd Excess, seem to be of a very sound Judgment, and speak and do very Rational Things, and yet in effect are Extravagant, but do not reflect upon it, because of the calm and moderate Temper they possess.

Physicians have no better a way to know if a Man be sick or well, than to reflect on his Actions; for if they are Rational and Sound, he is in Health; but if they are Evil and Deprav'd, it is an infallible Indication of his being Indisposed. Upon this Argument the great Philosopher De∣mocritus insisted when he proved to Hippocrates, that Man from the Day of his Birth to that of his Death, as to his Rational Acts, was nothing else but a continual Disease; Every Man, says he, from his Birth is but a Disease; when he is brought up he is Helpless, and wants the Aid of another; when he encreases in Strength, he becomes Insolent, must be Corrected, and have a Master; when he is at full Strength, he is Rash; when he declines to Old Age, he is Miserable, does nothing but Vaunt and Prate of his past Labours; at length he drops with his fair Qualities into the Ordeur of his Mother's Belly: Which Words were admired by Hippocrates, who finding them so true, and being convinc'd by them, recounted them to his Friend Demagetes. And returning to Visit him, who relished a Treat of such high Wisdom, he ask'd him why he laugh'd without ceasing, upon his ridiculing all Mankind. To which he returned as follows. Don't you see that the whole World is Raving mad in a burning Fever, some buy and feed Kenels of Hounds that are to Devour them; others run Mad after Hunting-Horses, these

would command many People, and yet know not so much as how to govern themselves; those take Wives to drive away Incontinence, and yet burn with Love, and soon prove as irreconcilable in their Hatred; they die with desire to have Children, and when these Children are once grown up, they turn them out of Doors. All these unprofitable transient Cares and Affections, what are they but fair Tokens of their Folly? Nor do they stop there, for having no greater Enemy than Quiet, they wage War one with another, deposing their Kings, ad∣vancing others to their Dignities; they account it a Glory to Murder one another, or rather turn their Swords a∣gainst their own Mother's Breasts; go on wickedly search∣ing in the Bowels of the Earth, which administers Matter to all their Crimes; continuing after this manner all along, recounting the various Capricio's of Men, and the monstrous things they do and say, by reason they are all distemper'd. In fine, he told him, That this World (to speak properly) was but one great Bedlam, where every Man's Life was an agree∣able Comedy to make sport for all the rest, and that truly was the Subject of his fit of Laughter: Which Hippocrates having heard, cryed out aloud, tell∣ing the Abderites, Democritus is no mad Man, but the Wisest of Men, and one that can make us all Wiser. If we are not all mistaken, we that live in Tem∣perate Regions, and eat with moderation, shall all have, though not always, yet for the most part, the very same Opinions, the same Inclina∣tions, and the same Conceptions; and would eve∣ry one take the Pains to reason and judge of any Point of Difficulty, almost all at the same instant would be of the same Sentiments: But living as we do in Intemperate Regions, and in those so ir∣regularly, in what relates to Eating and Drink∣ing, beset with so many Passions and Cares, and

subjected to every Change and Alteration of Air and Weather, it is impossible but we should be sick, or at least indisposed; and as we are not all sick of the same Disease, so usually we are not all of the same Mind, nor espouse the same Opinion; but each in proportion to his Evil Constitution.

The Parable of St. Luke agrees excellently well with this Philosophy, which says, that a certain Man went down from Jerusalem to Jerico, and fell among Thieves, which stript him of his Raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead; which some Doctors explain, saying, That this Man thus maim'd, represents Humane Nature af∣ter it had sinn'd; for God Created him most per∣fect, with a Constitution and Temperament, na∣tural and agreeable to his Kind, bestowing on him many Supernatural Graces for his greater Perfe∣ction, and among others Original Justice, by which Man gained entire Health, and as Harmo∣nious a Constitution, as he could wish. Where∣upon St. Austin calls it the Health of Nature, be∣cause it was from it proceeded that excellent Har∣mony in Man, which subjects the Inferior Part to the Superior, and the Superior to God; all which Graces he lost in the very instant he Sin'd, when he not only saw himself despoiled of his Gifts of Grace, but of those of Nature, also, remaining as maim'd in both at once. But be that so or not, let us consider his Descendents, in what State they are, and what Actions they perform, and we shall easi∣ly perceive they could not proceed, but from Men Maim'd and Distempered. At least, as to what respects Free-Will, 'tis a certain and judged Case, that since he Sin'd, he remain'd in a manner half dead, deprived of the Strength he had before, be∣cause at the same instant Adam Sin'd, he was cast

out of the Terrestrial Paradice, a very Tempe∣rate Place, and was depriv'd of the Fruit of the Tree of Life, and of other means he had to pre∣serve his good Constitution. The Life he after∣wards led was exttreamly Painful, he made the Earth his Bed, was exposed to Heat, Cold, and all the Injuries of Weather; the Country where he dwealt was Intemperate, his Meat and Drink con∣trary to his Health; to go bare-Footed and Naked, to Sweat and Slave, to spin out, and get a Liveli∣hood; to have neither House, nor Home; to wander from Place to Place; for such a Man as he especially that had been so nicely Educated, doubtless might very well render him Unhealthful and Distemper∣ed: So that there remained not in his Body an Organ that was not in the same Condition, or that could Act with the accustomed Sweetness and Vigour. Being so Distempered he enjoyed his Wife, and beget Cain, a Child of such a Perverse and Malicious Spirit, Proud, Rough, Shameless, Envious, Wicked, and of such Corrupted Man∣ners, as he transmitted, together with that State of impaired Health, this dangerous Disorder to his whole Race, Physicians being of Opinion, that the Parents Diseases fail not to descend to the Children.

But a great Objection arises against this Do∣ctrin, requiring no slight Solution, which is this; Suppose it be true that all Men are Distem∣per'd and of evil Constitution, as we have prov'd; and that from each ill Constitution is bred a de∣prav'd Opinion, what Method shall we take, to distinguish who speaks Truth amongst so many Persons that pretend to be Judges of it? For if these Four Men, of whom we formerly spoke, were all mistaken in their Judgment of the piece

of Blue Cloath they saw, and had each an ill Tin∣cture in his Sight, may not the same happen in other things, if each should have some particular Distemper in his Brains? and after this manner Truth would remain hid, without any Body be∣ing able to discover it, because all the World is Crazed and Distemper'd.

To which I answer, That the Knowlege of Man is Uncertain and Doubtful, for the Reasons I have mentioned; but besides, that 'tis to be obser∣ved, that never any ill Constitution attends a Man, but if it should debilitate him in one Faculty, in the same proportion it strengthens him in another; and if you would have it so, in that which re∣quires a different Temperament: For Instance, If the Brain being well temper'd, should happen by Excess of Moisture to lose its good Tempe∣rament, assuredly the Memory would thereby prove more Excellent, but the Understanding im∣pair'd, as we shall hereafter make out: And if he loses this good Temperament by too much Dri∣ness, the Understanding will be thereby encrea∣sed, but the Memory diminish'd. So that as to what concerns the Operations relating to the Un∣derstanding, a Man that has a dry Brain, shall much more Excel therein, than he that has a sounder, and more temperate one: And for the Operations of the Memory, a Man of a bad Con∣stitution, because of his too much Moisture, ex∣cels much more in that than a Man of the best Con∣stitution in the World; for, according to the Opinion of Physicians, Men of the worst Consti∣tution, in many things surpass those of the best. For which reason said Plato, it is a Miracle to find a Man of an excellent Wit, that has not some Madness (as much as to say, a hot and dry Distem∣per

of the Brain;) so that there is an intemperate Distemper appropriate to one sort of Science, which is quite contrary to another. Therefore 'tis requisie a Man should distinguish what kind of Infirmity and Distemper his is, and what Science in particular it suits with (which is the Subject of this Treatise) for in that Science he shall discover Truth, but in the others he shall only make Con∣jectures at random.

Men of Harmonious Constitutions, as we shall hereafter prove, have in a degree of Mediocrity a Capacity for all Sciences, though they will never excell in any; but those that are otherwise, are fit but for one only, which if they happen to hit upon, and Study with Care and Application, they may be assured to succeed wonderfully in it; but if they fail in their Choice and Application, they will make but small Advancements in the other Sciences. History confirms to us, that each Sci∣ence was discover'd by Men of ill Constitutions.

If Adam and all his Children had continued in the Terrestrial Paradice, they would have had no occasion for Mechanic Arts, nor any of the Sciences now taught in the Schools, nor would they as yet have been found out, or Practised; for inasmuch as they went bare-footed and naked, they wanted neither Shooe-makers, nor Taylors, nor Weavers, no more than Carpenters, or Masons, because there was no Rain in this Earthly Garden of Pleasure, nor was the Weather too hot, or too cold, that they needed any Cover or Retreat. Nor was there any Scholastic, or Positive Divi∣nity, much less was it branched out as it is now, because Adam not having Sin'd, Jesus Christ was not Born, of whose Incarnation, Life, and Death, as also of Original Sin, and the Remedy thereby

obtained, this Science consists. There had been less of the Knowledge of the Law, because the Just have no occasion for Law and Right; all things had been in Common, there had been no Mine nor Thine, which are the cause of Law Suits and Quarrels. Physic had likewise been super∣fluous, Man had then been Immortal, and free from the Corruptions and Changes attending Dis∣eases; all had eat of the Fruit of the Tree of Life, which had that Property, daily to repair our Ra∣dical Moisture.

Adam no sooner Sin'd, but he began to fall up∣on the Exercising of all the Arts and Sciences, as necessary to support his Misery. The first Sci∣ence that appeared in the Earthly Paradice, was Skill of the Law, by means of which was form'd a Process, with the same Order of Justice, as at this day observ'd, citing the Party, and declaring the Crime he was accused of, the Accused an∣swering, and the Judge pronouncing Arrest of Judgment, or Condemnation.

The second was Divinity; for when God said to the Serpent, And she shall bruise thy Head, Adam understood, as he was a Man, whose Understand∣ing was full of infus'd Sciences, that to repair his Fault, the Divine Word was to take Flesh in the Virgin's Womb, who by her happy Delivery should trample under her Feet the Devil, and all his Powers, by which Faith and Belief he was Saved.

After Theology soon came the Military-Art; because in the way Adam went to eat the Fruit of Life, God had placed a Garison and Fort, into which he had put an Armed Cherubim, to dispute the Passage.

Next the Art-Military, came also Physic, be∣cause Adam by Sin became Mortal, and Corrup∣tible, subject to an infinite number of Dolours and Infirmities.

All these Arts and Sciences were first exercised there, receiving afterwards their due Improve∣ment, and Perfection, each in the temperate Re∣gion, best adapted to it, by means of Men of Wit and Ability every way qualified to invent them.

Whereupon I conclude (Curious Reader) frankly confessing my self to be of evil Constitu∣tion; and Distemper'd, and that you may well be so, being Born as I was, in an intemperate Re∣gion, and that the same Thing may happen to us, as to those Four Men, who seeing a Piece of Blue Cloath, swore, one, that it was Scarlet; the o∣ther, White; the third, Yellow; and the fourth, Black; not one of them speaking true, because each had a particular Vitiation in the Organ of Sight.