The Travels and Adventures of James Massey

by Simon Tyssot de Patot

Lisbon stands near the Mouth of the Tagus, in a Situation extremely diverting; and certainly 'tis one of the finest Cities in Europe. It has a considerable Trade, which renders it very populous and wealthy. According, to the Calculation I made of it in the Bulk, there cannot be less than 20000 Houses. There are Thirty-five or Forty Gates for the Conveniency of the Inhabitants; and I am very much mistaken if it be not two long Leagues in Compass.

The Person to whom I made my Application, was one M. Du Pre, a Surgeon by Profession, a Man who had a great deal of Practice, and was capable of finding me Employment. In short, the good Man receiv'd me with open Arms. I had been with him but a very little while ere I discover'd that he was one of the Reformed, for he went very seldom to Mass, often read Sermons to his Children, and not a Sunday went over his Head but he catechis'd them privately: And he, for his part, quickly perceiv'd also that I was very far from a Bigot; so that he confess'd to me he kept the Bible at home for the Instruction of his Family, which he carry'd me to see.

To speak the Truth, the first time that I gave it a Reading, which was dispatch'd in a very little time, I took it for an ill-concerted Romance, to which however I gave the Name of Sacred Stories. The Book of Genesis seem'd to me to be meer Fiction; the Jewish Law and Ceremonies a Medley of Trifles and Childish Vanities; the Prophesies an Abyss of Obscurities, and the most ridiculous Nonsense; and the Gospel a pious Fraud, invented to cajole silly Women, and captivate the Vulgar. What shock'd me first of all was to find, that in the Work of the Creation there was Light, before the Luminaries which produce it, and without which all wou'd be Darkness and Obscurity. Then I boggled at the Fatal Necessity Man was laid under to labour and die, as a pretended Consequence of his Crime. Afterwards I reflected on the Sentence pass'd upon the Woman, to bring forth Children in Sorrow, and that on the Serpent, to creep on its Belly, as if before it had Legs. The Rainbow, which was plac'd in the Clouds after the Deluge, to dispossess Mankind of the Fear of perishing by a second Flood: The Favour granted by Heaven to Lot, to depart out of Sodom, that he might be at liberty to go immediately and commit a double Incest with his Daughters: The Amours of Pharaoh and of Sarah the Wife of Abraham; and the Rape committed on her, when she was a decrepid old Woman, by Abimelech King of Gerar: The frequent Dialogues between the Creature and his Creator: The Passage over the Red Sea, and the many other Miracles wrought for the Jews: The Ass, whose Mouth was open'd to say so little to the Purpose; and a thousand other Difficulties of the same Nature, puzzled my Reason to a prodigious Degree. I cou'd not comprehend how Effects cou'd precede their Causes. I had been so often taught the contrary in the Schools, and daily Experience had so many times confirm'd this Truth to me in the Works of Nature, that I did not care so much as once to think of it. I thought it altogether as absurd to suppose that Man wou'd have been immortal, if he had not disobey'd God, because I did not see any Appearance that the Order and Constitution of his Parts wou'd have suffer'd any Alteration, after he had receiv'd Life. Nor did I conceive how the Earth wou'd have been in a Condition to bear its Fruits continually in the same Abundance, without Cultivation, unless it had been quite of another Nature then, than it is at present, which is not probable: I had read a hundred Voyages, which assur'd me that the Women in general, in the East-Indies, in Africa, and in America, about the Line, scarce suffer any Pain at all in the Delivery of the Humane Species into the World; insomuch that the Women of Brasil commonly go to be deliver'd near some Spring or River, where they wash themselves, cleanse the Infant, and then carry it to their Husbands, who immediately take to their Beds, where they lie-in, and receive the Compliments of the Gossips, while the Woman goes abroad for Provision to regale them. On the other hand, among the People who live towards the Poles, the Sex suffers a vast deal at such times, and even many of them lose their Lives; so that this varies proportionably to the Climates, and to Peoples Constitutions. 'Tis the very same thing in Beasts, which for no Crime by them committed, are equally subject to those different Changes. In fine, for it wou'd require whole Volumes to exhaust this Subject, when I consider'd the Cause of the Rainbow, and its Bigness, and Colours, having made a hundred artificial ones my self, which is easily done, by taking Water into one's Mouth and squirting it abroad, in some Place opposite to the Sun Beams, which has no very bright Objects beyond it, and by several other ways; I cou'd not well digest the Account which Moses gives us of it, as a Meteor unknown before that time.

Nevertheless, all these Obstacles did not intirely discourage me; for I undertook to run over this holy Book a second time, on condition, however, that, as I went thro' it, I might desire my Master to explain the difficult Passages. He consented to it, and we were every Day deeply engag'd in Disputes, during which the good Man frequently rav'd at me, and I was well off if he only call'd me a Libertine, and a stubborn Unbeliever. I said to him sometimes, that it was no strange thing to see a Crowd of Swimmers follow the rapid Course of a wide deep River, because 'tis every whit as agreeable as 'tis easy; but as soon as any one Man turns his Back to the others, cutting the Stream, and hastening nimbly towards its Fountain, they are all surpris'd at the Action; for which, some admire him, and others, especially his Companions, envy him to such a degree, that they are ready to burst with Spite, and do every thing they can imagine to discredit and ruine him, because what he does is an evident Proof of Skill and Vigour on his Part, and of meer Dastardy and Folly on their Part. 'Tis the same thing as to our Sentiments concerning the Sciences, and especially Religion; the first we imbibe stick with us, so that we cannot bear to be contradicted. We are disgusted with every thing that is not conformable to them, and from the Moment that a Man talks of discarding them, he is infallibly reckon'd a Mad-man, or a Knave. Mean time, I declare to you, that as I entertain a much more favourable Opinion of a Man who swims against the Stream, than of another who suffers himself to be insensibly born away with it, so I am infinitely more inclin'd to think well of that Man's Penetration and solid Judgment, who examines every thing, and even sometimes opposes Opinions long since receiv'd, than of those Men who hold Sentiments, as by Right of Inheritance, from their Ancestors, and who only retain them for the sake of their Age or their Authority; because it seldom happens that People go out of the common Road, without Reasons for so doing; whereas 'tis not so much expected that Men shou'd give their Reasons for not deviating from it.

At the beginning of our Conversation, another Affair happen'd, which gave occasion to another Dispute. A Captain of a Ship having brought some Negroes from Africa, made a Present of one of the handsomest to a Friend of his, a Man of Figure and Substance, but whimsical, and hard to be pleas'd. This Negro, after having liv'd several Years with so rigid a Master, and suffer'd a thousand Abuses from him, could bear it no longer, and resolv'd, whatever might be the Consequence, to take Revenge in a way the most dangerous that cou'd be. For this End, he went to the Apothecary that serv'd the Family, and under pretence that they were extremely pester'd with Rats, he desired two or three Pennyworth of Arsenic. The Fellow was scarce got out of the Shop to do some Errands, when the Apothecary sent to tell the Gentleman, that since his Black came for the Ratsbane, he had thought of an admirable Composition to destroy those Vermin, and that if he pleas'd he would immediately send him the Receipt. The Gentleman, who was naturally of an uneasy Temper, being surpris'd at this Message, and the more because he very well remember'd that he had us'd his Domestic barbarously but the Day before, sent for him to know what he meant to do with that Poison, and swore by all that's sacred he would murder him, if he gave him the least Cause to suspect him. It happen'd that the Valet was not then in the way, but as soon as he came home, a Servant-maid, who dreaded that she shou'd see him broke upon the Wheel, gave him secret Notice of what had pass'd. The Wretch was sadly affrighted; and being conscious that he had not Courage enough to stand the Test, he stole away, and without more ado, hang'd himself. Mean time, his Master was out of all Patience because he did not see him; and after having order'd Messengers to go and find him out, at the Places to which he had sent him, a Footman came and surpris'd him with the News, that he found him hanging in the Corn-Loft.

The Notice of this tragical Action was quickly spread every where. The Gentleman being one of my Master's best Patients, he went to him immediately, and desired him for several Reasons to order it so, that he might have the Body. The Gentleman, who was a Person of no small Influence, made no Scruple to assure him he should have it, and the very same Day he perform'd his Promise. As soon as the Body was put into our Hands, we dissected it in form. All the Parts of it were disposed like those of the Body of a white Man, at least, we observ'd no Difference; but what surpris'd us was, to find immediately under the Epidermis, a very thin delicate Membrane, which my Master had never perceived in other Bodies, and which I had never heard of before. He immediately sent for a famous Physician of the Town, to whom he imparted this Discovery, but the Doctor did not seem so much surpris'd as I expected, for the same thing had happen'd to him upon the like Occasion. We concluded that this must be the true Cause of the Blackness of this Race of Men, forasmuch as this Tunick stifles, and no doubt absorbs the Rays of Light; as on the contrary, a Leaf of Quicksilver plac'd behind Venice Glass, makes them reflect, and strikes them back towards the Place from whence they came. This gave occasion to a strong Debate concerning the Origin of the Ethiopians, which, when we consider this remarkable Difference, seems not to be the same with other Men. Upon this Principle I was going to draw Consequences which would have tended to no less than the intire Subversion of the System of the Sacred Author in Debate. But I was silenc'd by being told, That there were many things, which it was the Will of Heaven we should admire, but are forbid to dive into.

I was much delighted to hear this Doctor discourse upon the Construction and Operations of the Humane Body. He spoke Latin like Cicero, and was as good an Orator as Demosthenes. I was charm'd with every thing he said, because the Terms in which he express'd himself were Strong, and well-chosen; and he always aim'd to be clear and intelligible.

Not to give you a Detail of the long Conversation we had upon this fine Subject, I will only mention that he observ'd three things to us, which spread themselves in general over the whole Body; the one externally, which is the Skin; and the two others, which are the Veins and Nerves, in the Internal, and less visible Parts of the Corporeal Mass. The Skin, said he, is necessary to the Creature, because, like a Shell, it covers, incloses, and wraps about its Members on all Sides, in such a manner as to defend every Part of us against the Injuries of the Air, as it does the Face and Hands, if we were inur'd to expose the whole Body in the like manner. The Veins and Arteries, those Rivulets, in which flows the Blood, the true Principle and immediate Cause of Life, derive their Streams from the Heart, and run thro' the whole Machine, so that it is not possible to prick it in any Place, be it ever so small, without piercing some of their Branches; which is plain from the Vermilion Colour of the Moisture that instantly starts out. In short, there is no Part in us where we do not meet with Nerves; this is clear, and may easily be prov'd, beyond all Contradiction or Question. All these Nerves, without Exception, proceed from the Brain, where, like so many Strings, Twigs, or hollow Tubes, their several Extremities are so rang'd, one by another, that they form a sort of Sphere, in the middle of which there is a small Glandule extremely sensible and delicate; and to the Basis are fasten'd an infinite Number of imperceptible Arteries, by which a prodigious Quantity of Spirits flow to it from the Heart, which Spirits sweep the Glandule in a continual Agitation, and ready to yield to the least, extraneous Motion.

To illustrate this by an Example; Suppose I have in my Hands a thousand Ends of Thread ty'd together, 'tis impossible that any one shou'd be pluck'd without my perceiving it immediately, tho' I can't point to the very Place where the Attraction is made. Admitting therefore these Nerves, or the little Fibres of which they are compos'd, to be full of Spirits, as indeed they always are when we are awake, tho' they are partly depriv'd of 'em while we sleep; if any Object whatsoever happen to strike against the exterior End, or against any other Part of those Tubes, it is evident, that when they are full, and by Consequence extended, the other Extremity which is in the Brain, must be sensible of the Shock, and communicate the Motion to the Glandule, which must unavoidably be acknowledg'd to be the Seat of the Understanding. And forasmuch as Experience has taught me from the Cradle, that the Blows, Wounds, and other Ailments which my Body suffers, generally come to it from without, as often as I perceive the least Agitation in one of my Parts, I cannot but ascribe the Cause of it to some external Agent, nor help believing that 'tis really the Extremity of some Nerve, and no other Part, which was touch'd. We are also by Nature so far prepossess'd in favour of this Opinion, that those, for Example, who have had the Misfortune to lose an Arm, complain they feel the Pain at their Fingers, and in no other Place; which is a Truth that every Day's Experience confirms. Whether therefore the Impulsion be made by the Rays of Light on the Optic Nerves, or by the small Particles of our Food upon the Nerves which communicate with the Tongue, or by the imperceptible Effluvia from Bodies which we call Scented, upon the Source of the Olfactory Nerves, or in what other manner soever this be, it amounts to the same thing; the Organs may be as different as they will, 'tis the Touch is the sole Cause of all the Perceptions we are capable of. From hence it appears, that neither they who limit the Number of the Senses to Five, nor others, who not knowing under which of those Five to place Hunger; Thirst, and the Pleasure of Love, increase them to Eight; it appears, I say, that neither of 'em have a right Notion of the Nature of the Senses, because 'tis manifest from what we have said, that there is absolutely but one.

Moreover, continued he, I cou'd easily demonstrate, Mathematically, and by the Help of a Geometrical Figure, that 'tis impossible, strictly speaking, to have more than one Perception at a time, as perfectly as we are capable by Nature, and that when two or three are form'd together, they must needs be confus'd; for Experience tells us, that when we look upon an Object, the only Part of it which we see perfectly and distinctly, is the Point which corresponds with the Optic Axes, our Perception of the other Parts being only more or less, in Proportion to their Distance from the Center. Our Ideas or the Images of our Thoughts, are no more different from one another, than our Perceptions are; for tho' we admit of two sorts of them, distinguish'd by the Terms, Conception and Imagination, 'tis certain that Touching is the sole Cause of both the one and the other: 'Tis the only Source of all Human Knowledge, and also of our Reason, which, when all is said and done, is nothing more nor less than the Union or Disunion of Names, which, by common Consent, we have impos'd upon Substances, as they appear to our Comprehension to bear a Conformity to their Qualities, and not at all to their Existence. Other Creatures having Organs like to ours, have no doubt the same Perceptions, and 'tis only the Degree of more or less, that can constitute the Difference. The Beasts therefore have Reason; and tho' they don't shew it, 'tis only for want, perhaps, of Speech to give Names, as we do, to things which affect them by being put in Motion; for, in other Matters, they are very capable of distinguishing——