Another collection of philosophical conferences of the French virtuosi upon questions of all sorts for the improving of natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent. & J. Davies ..., Gent.

CONFERENCE CCXXXVII. Of Antiperistasis. (Book 237)

SO great is the Indulgence of Nature, that she thought it not enough to bestow Being and Existence on the things she hath produc'd; but she hath also imprinted in them a strong Incli∣nation to preserve it, by fortifying them against the assaults of their Contraries, the presence whereof sets them on such an edge, that they become so much the more active. And this is not only confirm'd in Animate Beings, such as are Plants and Animals, which vigorously oppose what-ever is hurtful to them, by so powerful a Vertue, that Men have been forc'd to find out a par∣ticular name for it, to wit, Antipathy; but also in other Inani∣mate Bodies, which generously stand upon the defensive, when they are set upon by External Agents, whose contrary qualities coming to engage against them, they redouble their Forces, and rally all together as it were into a Body, the better to re∣ceive the Charge. This is that which the Philosophers call Antiperistasis, which is a vigorous resistance of the Subject, caus'd by the contrariety of an Agent, which encompasses it of all sides, purposely to destroy or corrupt it. It will be to no purpose to enter into any Dispute concerning the Existence of that which we call Antiperistasis; but we shall lay it down for granted, though it be contested by Cardan and some other Philo∣sophers, who maintain, that Water, Air, and the other Sub∣terraneous Bodies, are not actually colder at one time than at another, but only seem to be such to our Senses, which, though they should be destitute of all qualities, are then endu'd there∣with, so that the same Well-water which seems to be hot in Winter, by reason of the coldness that is in the Touching, seems cold in Summer, by reason of the heat of the same Organ, which judges of it comparatively. For the contrary is seen, in

that Well-water, in Summer, being transported into a hot place, is there nevertheless cold; and the fumes and hot vapors which exhale from Springs and Wells in Winter, do sufficiently demon∣strate, that, during the said season, the water is endu'd with a true and real heat, too sensible to be accounted imaginary. But this Antiperistasis is further more solidly confirm'd by Expe∣rience, whereby we see that fire burns more violently, and is more sparkling in great Frosts, or in the shade, than in hot weather, or when it lyes expos'd to the beams of the Sun. In like manner, a little Water cast upon a great Fire, makes it more violent than it was before; and the Ventricles of our Bodies, ac∣cording to the Opinion of Hippocrates, in his Aphorisms, are hotter in Winter than in any other season of the year; whence it comes that we are apt to feed more plentifully, and Digestion is then better perform'd. Nay, if we but go down into our Cel∣lars, we shall find that the heat is more sensible there in Winter; but in Summer, when all things are scorch'd and burnt up on the surface of the Earth, all Subterraneous Places are so much the colder, the deeper they are, and the nearer they approach to the Centre; towards which, Cold, which is one of the natural qualities of the Earth, gathers together, and reunites it self there∣to, that so it may be secur'd from the heat, whereby it is en∣compass'd of all sides. And as it is to this, that the generation of Metals in the entrails of the Earth is principally attributed; so most of the Meteors which are fram'd in the two Regions of the Air, owe theirs to this same Cold, which coming to encompass, and as it were to enclose the hot and dry Exhalation which makes the Winds, Lightning, Thunder, and Thunder-bolts, as also that which makes the Comets in the Middle Region of the Air; these unctuous and easily-enflam'd vapors, being encompass'd of all sides, by the extream coldness of that Air which encloses them, they, in order to their Conservation, re-unite, and take fire, after the same manner as the Rayes of the Sun darted against some Opake Body, or reflected by Burning-glasses, set on fire the most solid Bodies, on which they are repercuss'd; as it is re∣lated of Archimedes, who by such an Artifice, consum'd the Ships of Marcellus, who besieg'd the City of Saragossa in Sicily. Which instance serves as well to prove Antiperistasis, as the manner whereby it is wrought, to wit, by the repercussion of the inten∣tional Species of the Subject caus'd by its contrary. Thus then it comes, that the Water of Springs and Wells is cold in the Sum∣mer, in regard the Species of the cold, forc'd by the Water to∣wards the heated Air which is all about it, are darted back again by that opposite heat to the place whence they came; whereupon being thrust closer together, they there re-inforce and augment the Cold; which happens not so in Winter, when the Species of the coldness of the Water, meeting with no Ob∣struction in the Air, endu'd with the like quality, insinuate them∣selves into it without any resistance; and so not being reflected

nor forc'd back towards the Water, it is not then so cold as in Summer.

The Second said, That the intentional Species, being not de∣sign'd to act, but only to make a discovery of the beings from which they flow, as may be seen in those of all sensible Objects, which these Species represent to the Organs that are to judge of them, cannot contribute any thing to the vigor of the action ob∣servable in the Antiperistasis; which he conceiv'd should rather be attributed to the simple form of the Subject, which having an absolute sovereignty over the qualities employ'd thereby, in order to Action, renders them more or less active, according to the need it stands in of them. And as seething Water taken off the Fire becomes cold of it self, without any other assistance than that of its proper substantial form, which hath the pro∣perty of re-instating it self in that degree of Cold, which is naturally due unto it; so ought it with greater reason to have an equal right of preserving that same quality, when it is assault∣ed by its contrary, Heat; without having any recourse to those Emissions of Species, which, though we should grant the Tactile qualities (what is much in dispute) yet would not be able to cause an Antiperistasis, inasmuch as being inseparable from them, if the intentional Species of the coldness of Well-water were di∣rected towards the warm'd Air, it should take along with it the coldness, and, consequently, it should be so far from acquiring any new degree of coldness thereby, that it would lose much of that which it had before. For since it is the Nature of these Intentional Species to be otherwise incapable, by reason of their immateriality, of producing any Corporeal and Material Effect, such as is the augmentation of the degrees of any active quality, as Heat and Cold are, there being not any contrariety between the Species thereof, no more than there is between those of ••ll other Bodies, whereof they are the Images, there is not any rea∣son that obliges the Intentional Species of the Cold to retreat and close together, when they come to meet with those of Heat, or Heat it self▪ no more than there is that the Species of this latter quality should make the other more vigorous by their reflection.

The Third said, That it must be acknowledg'd, that the Species of Cold and Heat, and the other first Qualities were not contrary among themselves, as being in their own Nature inalterable and incorruptible, as the other Intentional Species are, which come near the Condition of Spirits: Yet does it not follow thence, that these Species cannot be reflected, inasmuch as the Visible Species, Light and Voice, which also have no contraries, are not for that the less re-percuss'd by Mirrours and other solid Bodies, or those hollow places which make Echoes.

The Fourth said, That it is not sufficient, in order to the giving of a reason of that effect, to attribute it to the substan∣tial

form of every Agent, but it is to be referr'd to a superiour cause, such as is the Soul of the world; whose function it being to preserve every thing in its intireness, and to be assistant there∣to, when it comes into any danger, as it happens when it is as∣saulted by its contrary, then bent upon its destruction, there lies a certain engagement on this first cause, to relieve it in so great an extremity, by supplying it with new forces to help it out of that oppression. Thence it comes that our Cellars are warm in Winter, and cool in Summer, as are also all other ground-rooms and low places; That Water shrinks up and frames it self into little drops, when it is spilt on dry ground, whereas it spreads abroad and is diffus'd in moist places; That Lime is set on fire by the casting of water upon it; That the fire burns better in frosty than in hot weather; That Wine drinks more cool out of a Glass that had been warm'd; That the coldness of Snow causes an extraordinary heat in their hands who handle it; and, That generally all tactile qualities are rendred more active, by the op∣position of their contraries, by reason of the concourse, and the assistance they then receive from that general Cause, which con∣cerns it self in their preservation. Of this we may give an in∣stance in Politicks, affirming, that the procedure of the fore∣mentioned Cause is much like that of great Potentates, who, in a war between some petty Princes or neighbouring States, if they find one party ready to be absolutely ruin'd, supply it with such forces as shall enable it to recover it self, so to bring the se∣veral interests into an Aequilibrium, whereof there is as great a necessity in Nature, which is kept up by that proportion, wherein all things find their subsistence, as their destruction pro∣ceeds only from their disproportion and inequality.

The Fifth said, That we are not to look for the reason of An∣tiperistasis any otherwhere, than in the Subjects themselves, wherein we find the action, whose intenseness and augmentati∣on are to be referr'd, not to that of the degrees of the active qualities, but to their compression and reinforcement, which renders them more sensible, in regard they are more material, as may be seeen in a red-hot iron, the heat whereof burns much more violently, then that of a fire of Straw or Aqua-vitae.

The sixth said, That according to the principles which allow all things to participate of a certain degree of sentiment, this condensation, or compression of the degrees of heat or cold, ought to be the effects of a sensitive Agent, which having a knowledge of what may be hurtful or beneficial to it, with∣draws within it self the qualities which preserve it intire, when it is press'd upon by others that are more violent, and such as the meeting whereof might be prejudicial thereto, which it forces from it, in order to Action. And herein it is that the good of every thing consists; inasmuch as every thing hath being on∣ly so far as it hath action, when it is assisted by friendly qualities, and the like; and by this means it is that Cold and Heat act more

vigorously, when they are oppos'd one to the other; and that our cavities are hotter in Winter, by reason of the compression of the Spirits and the natural Heat; which are the more diffus'd in Summer, in regard this latter goes to meet with its like, as a little fire is put out by a great one, and a weaker light obscur'd by a clearer.