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 CXXVIII. Of Incubi and Succubae; and whether Devils can generate. (Book 128)

TWo sorts of people err in this matter; the superstitious, and ignorant vulgar, who attribute every thing to Mira∣cles, and account the same done either by Saints or Devils; and the Atheists and Libertines, who believe neither the one nor the other. Physitians take the middle way, distinguishing what is fit to be attributed to Nature, and her ordinary motions, from what is supernatural; to which last Head, 'tis not reasonable to referr diseases and indispositions, as the Incubus is, call'd by the Greeks, Ephialtes, and by the vulgar, the Night-mare. 'Tis de∣fin'd, An impediment of Respiration, Speech, and Motion, with oppression of the Body, whereby we feel in our sleep as 'twere some weight upon the Stomack. The Cause of it is a gross Va∣por, obstructing principally the hinder part of the Brain, and hindring the egress of the Animal Spirits destinated to the mo∣tion of the parts; which Vapor is more easily dissipable than the humor which causeth the Lethargy, Apoplexy, and other Symp∣toms, which are therefore of longer duration than this, which ceases as soon as the said Vapor is dissipated. Now whereas the Passions of the Mind and Body commonly supply the matter of Dreams; (as those that are hungry or amorous, will think they eat or see what, they love; those that have pain in some part, dream that some body hurts the same) hence when Respiration, (the most necessary of all the animal functions) is impeded, we presently imagine we have a load lying on our Breasts, and hindring the dilatation of the same. And because the Brain is employ'd in the Incubus therefore all the animal functions are hurt; the Imagination deprav'd, the Sensation obtunded, Mo∣tion impeded. Hence those whom this evil seizes, endeavor to awake, but can neither move nor speak, till after a good while. And though the Cause of this disorder be within our selves, ne∣vertheless the distemper'd person believes that some body is go∣ing about to strangle him by outward violence, which the de∣praved Imagination rather thinks upon than Internal Causes;

that being more sensible and common. This has given occasion to the error of the Vulgar, who charge these Effects upon Evil Spirits, instead of imputing them to the Malignity of a Vapor, or some phlegmatick and gross humor oppressing the Stomack; the coldness and weakness whereof, arising from want of Spirits and Heat, which keeps all the parts in due order, are the most manifest Causes. Much unlikely it is to be caused by Genera∣tion, which being an Effect of the Natural Faculty, as this of the Vegetative Soul, cannot belong to the Devil, who is a pure Spirit.

The Second said, As 'tis too gross to recurr to supernatural Causes, when Natural are evident; so 'tis too sensual to seek the Reason of every thing in Nature, and to ascribe to meer Phlegm and the distempered Phant'sie, the Coitions of Daemons with Men; which we cannot deny without giving the lye to infinite of persons of all Ages, Sexes, and Conditions, to whom the same have happened; nor without accusing the Sentences of Judicial Courts which have condemned them. For to omit the Births of Hercules, Aemas, Alexander, Servius Tullus, and many other Heroes begotten by the false gods of Antiquity, who were no other than Devils, as were also the Fauni, Satyrs, and the chief of them Pan, the prime of the Incubi, called by the Hebrews Haza, as the chief of the Succubae was termed Libith: And to say nothing of the Giants mentioned in Genesis, who according to some Fathers were begotten by Angels; England hath had its Merlin a great Magician▪ begotten by an Incubus; Poitou, Counts begotten of a Succuba, half Woman and half Serpent, called Mellusine; Poland, Princes of the Race of the Jagelloes, issued from another in form of a Bear; Hungary, intire Nations called Huns, born of the Arlunes, Gothick Witches, and Fauni. Even at this day, in the Island Hispaniola, by the Relation of Chieza, in his History of Peru, a Daemon, call'd by the Inhabitants Coro∣cota, hath to do with the Women, and the Children proceed∣ing from such Conjunction have horns; as also among the Turks, those people whom they call Nephesolians, are believed to be generated by the operation of Daemons; whether they bor∣row some humane seed which they transport almost in an instant, and so preserve its Spirits from evaporation; or whether it be by their proper Virtue; since whatever is naturally producible, as seed is, may be produced by Devils. For in the order of things natural, the superior and more noble contain eminently, and in a more perfect, degree, the powers of the inferior and less perfect. Yea, though they were not able to make true seed, it follows not that they cannot produce a perfect Creature; for Nature, of which the Devils have compleat Knowledge, may have divers wayes to compass the same end. But as the Devil performs the natural actions of Animals by means supernatural; as he sees without Eyes, moves Bodies without Contact, transports him∣self from one place to another, without commensuration of the

intermediate space, because he hath no quantity; so he may make a perfect Animal without observing the conditions of ordinary Agents. Moreover, Nature her self shews us strange transfor∣mations, as of a Womans hair buried in a dung-hill into Serpents; and of leavs falling into the water, into Ducks; wherefore there is no doubt, but he who hath perfect Knowledge of all these se∣crets, can by Application of Agents to Patients produce perfect Animals.

The Third said, That the Devil being a Spirit of uncleanness delights not only to combat the Purity of Mankind by his illu∣sions, but will have a hand in the sin too. When he hath to do with a Woman, he is called Incubus; when with a Man, Suc∣cuba. As for this latter, 'tis certain it cannot generate in its self, for want of place fit to receive the Seed and to reduce it from power into act, as also of Blood wherewith to nourish the Foetus during nine moneths. 'Tis harder to resolve, whether an Incu∣bus can generate in another. All agree that the Devil by Gods permission (without which he can do nothing) hath power to move all Bodies from one place to another; and can by that means form a Body of Air, or some other gross matter; or for want thereof, take a Body lately dead, animate it with an ad∣ventitious heat, and give such motions as he pleases to all its parts. But because Generation requires three things; Distin∣ction of Sex, Copulation of Male and Female, and emission of some prolifick matter containing in its self a vertue to form all the parts from whence it issued; the Devil may indeed make the two first conditions meet, but never the latter, namely a fit and convenient seed, indued with spirits and vital heat, without which it is unfruitful and barren. For he hath no such seed of his own, because it is the result of the last concoction, which can∣not be made but in a body actually alive, as that which he hath is supposed not to be; nor can he borrow such seed elsewhere, because it becomes unfruitful when once shed out of the Vessels of Nature by reason of the evaporation of its spirits.

The Fourth said, There is nothing supernatural in the Incu∣bus; for 'tis only a symptom of the Animal Faculty accompa∣nied with three circumstances, namely, Respiration hindred, Motion hurt, and a fansie depraved. The first proceeds from a phlegmatick, raw, and cold matter, which coming to lye heavy in the bottom of the Stomack, pulls down the Diaphragm (whereto the Ventricle is annex'd by its upper part) which be∣ing loaden and wanting its free Motion; Respiration, whereof it is the principal Organ, is consequently hindred. As also it is by gross fumes elevated from the Hypochondres and Mesaraical Veins; (which being the first ways of Food, abound with im∣purities and gross vapours) which coming to the hinder part of the Brain, obstruct the commerce of the Spirits, dedicated to the motion of all the parts; but particularly that of the Dia∣phragm, by obstructing the two couple of Nerves which issue

out of the fourth and fifth Vertebrae, and communicate motion to it; just as, in sleep, Sensation is stop'd by more tenuious va∣pours possessing the forepart of the Brain, which is more soft. Hence such as sleep upon the back part of head are more subject to this Disease then those that sleep on one side. Lastly, the voluptuous phansie, which accompanies this accident, though very rarely, proceeds either from the abundance, or quality of the Seed; which sending its Species into the phansie, this Faculty frames to its self a delightful object and stirs up the Motive Power, as this doth the Expulsive Faculty of the Sper∣matick Vessels, which discharge that excrementitious matter, whilst the lascivious Imagination fancies to it self the conjunction of unclean Spirits.