_Of the little Animals that make up our Life, and likewise cause our
Diseases; and of the Disposition of the Towns in the Moon._
During all this Discourse, I made Signs to my Landlord, that he would
try if he could oblige the Philosophers to fall upon some head of the
Science which they professed. He was too much my Friend, not to start
an Occasion upon the Spot: But not to trouble the Reader with the
Discourse and Entreaties that were previous to the Treaty, wherein Jest
and Earnest were so wittily interwoven, that it can hardly be imitated;
I'll only tell you that the Doctor, who came last, after many things,
spake as follows:
"It remains to be proved, that there are infinite Worlds, in an
infinite World: Fancy to your self then the Universe as a great Animal;
and that the Stars, which are Worlds, are in this great Animal, as
other great Animals that serve reciprocally for Worlds to other
Peoples; such as we, our Horses, &c. That we in our turns, are
likewise Worlds to certain other Animals, incomparably less than our
selves, such as Nits, Lice, Hand-worms, &c. And that these are an
Earth to others, more imperceptible ones; in the same manner as every
one of us appears to be a great World to these little People. Perhaps
our Flesh, Blood, and Spirits, are nothing else but a Contexture of
little Animals[1] that correspond, lend us Motion from theirs, and
blindly suffer themselves to be guided by our Will which is their
Coachman; or otherwise conduct us, and all Conspiring together, produce
that Action which we call Life.
"For tell me, pray, is it a hard thing to be believed, that a Louse
takes your Body for a World; and that when any one of them travels
from one of your Ears to the other, his Companions say, that he hath
travelled the Earth from end to end, or that he hath run from one
Pole to the other? Yes, without doubt, those little People take your
Hair for the Forests of their Country; the Pores full of Liquor, for
Fountains; Buboes and Pimples, for Lakes and Ponds; Boils, for Seas;
and Defluxions, for Deluges: And when you Comb your self, forwards, and
backwards, they take that Agitation for the Flowing and Ebbing of the
Ocean. Doth not Itching make good what I say? What is the little Worm
that causes it but one of these little Animals, which hath broken off
from civil Society, that it may set up for a Tyrant in its Country? If
you ask me, why are they bigger than other imperceptible Creatures? I
ask you, why are Elephants bigger than we? And the _Irish_-men, than
_Spaniards_?
"As to the Blisters, and Scurff, which you know not the Cause of;
they must either happen by the Corruption of their Enemies, which
these little Blades have killed, or which the Plague has caused by the
scarcity of Food, for which the Seditious worried one another[2] and
left Mountains of Dead Carcases rotting in the Field; or because the
Tyrant, having driven away on all Hands his Companions, who by their
Bodies stopt up the Pores of ours, hath made way out for the waterish
matter, which being extravasted out of the Sphere of the Circulation
of our Blood, is corrupted. It may be asked, perhaps, why a Nit, or
Hand-worm, produces so many disorders: But that's easily conceived,
for as one Revolt begets another, so these little People, egg'd on by
the bad Example of their Seditious Companions, aspire severally to
Sovereign Command; and occasion every where War, Slaughter, and Famine.
"But you'll say, some are far less subject to Itching than others;
and, nevertheless, all are equally inhabited by these little Animals,
since you say they are the Cause of our Life. That's true; for we
observe, that Phlegmatick People are not so much given to scratching as
the Cholerick; because the People sympathizing with the Climate they
inhabit, are slower in a cold Body, than those others that are heated
by the temper of their Region, who frisk and stir, and cannot rest in
a place: Thus a Cholerick Man is more delicate than a Phlegmatick;
because being animated in many more Parts, and the Soul being the
Action of these little Beasts, he is capable of Feeling in all
places where these Cattle stir. Whereas the Phlegmatick Man, wanting
sufficient Heat to put that stirring Mobile in Action, is sensible but
in a few places.
"To prove more plainly that universal _Vermicularity_, you need but
consider, when you are wounded, how the Blood runs to the Sore: Your
Doctors say that it is guided by provident Nature, who would succour
the parts debilitated; which might make us conclude, that, besides the
Soul and Mind, there were a third intellectual Substance, that had
distinct Organs and Functions: And therefore, it seems to me far more
Rational to say, That these little Animals finding themselves attacked
send to demand Assistance from their Neighbours, and thus, Recruits
flocking in from all Parts and the Country being too little to contain
so many, they either die of Hunger or We stifled in the Press. That
Mortality happens when the Boil is ripe; for as an Argument that these
Animals at that time are stifled, the Flesh becomes insensible: Now,
if Blood-letting, which is many times ordered to divert the Fluxion,
do any good, it is because, much being lost by the Orifice which these
little Animals laboured to stop, they refuse their Allies Assistance,
having no more Forces than is enough to defend themselves at home."
Thus he concluded, and when the second Philosopher perceived by all our
Looks that we longed to hear him speak in his turn:
"Men," said he, "seeing you are curious to instruct this little
Animal, (our like), in somewhat of the Science which we profess, I am
now dictating a Treatise which I wish he might see, because of the
Light it gives to the Understanding of our Natural Philosophy; it is
an Explication of the Original[3] of the World: But seeing I am in
haste to set my Bellows at work, (for to Morrow, without delay, the
Town departs;) I hope you'll excuse my want of time, and I promise to
satisfie you as soon as the Town is arrived at the place whither it is
to go."
[Sidenote: Towns in the Moon]
At these words, the Landlord's Son called his Father, to know what
it was a Clock? who having answered him, that it was past Eight, he
asked him in a great Rage, Why he did not give him notice at Seven,
according as he had commanded him; that he knew well enough the Houses
were to be gone to Morrow; and that the City Walls were already upon
their Journey? "Son," replyed the good Man, "since you sate down to
Table, there is an Order published, That no House shall budg before
next day:" "That's all one," answered the young Man; "you ought blindly
to obey, not to examine my Orders, and only remember what I commanded
you. Quick, go fetch me your Effigies:" So soon as it was brought, he
took hold on't by the Arm, and Whipt it a whole quarter of an Hour:
"Away you ne'er be good," continued he; "as a Punishment for your
disobedience, it's my Will and Pleasure, that this day you serve for
a Laughing-stock to all People; and therefore I command you, not to
walk but upon two Legs, till Night." The Poor Man went out in a very
mournful Condition, and the Young man excused to us his Passion.
I had much ado, though I bit my Lip, to forbear Laughing at so pleasant
a Punishment; and therefore to take me off of this odd piece of
Pedantick Discipline, which, without doubt, would have made, me burst
out at last; I prayed my Philosopher to tell me what he meant by that
Journey of the Town he talked of, and if the Houses and Walls Travelled?
"Dear Stranger," answered he, "we have some Ambulatory Towns, and some
Sedentary; the Ambulatory, as for instance this wherein now we are, are
Built in this manner: The Architector, as you see, builds every Palace
of a very light sort of Timber; supported by four Wheels underneath; in
the thickness of one of the Walls he places ten large pair of Bellows,
whose Snouts pass in a Horizontal Line through the upper Story, from
one Pinacle to the other; so that when Towns are to be removed from one
place to another, (for according to the Seasons they change the Air)
every one spreads a great many Sails upon one side of the House, before
the Noses of the Bellows; then having wound up a Spring to make them
play, in less than Eight days time their Houses, by the continual Puffs
which these Windy Monsters blow, are driven, if one pleases, an Hundred
Leagues and more.
"For those which we call Sedentary, they are almost like to your
Towers; save that they are of Timber, and that they have a Great and
Strong Skrew or Vice in the Middle, reaching from the top to the
Bottom; whereby they may be hoisted up or let down as People please.
Now the Ground under neath is dugg as deep as the House is high; and it
is so ordered, that so soon as the Frosts begin to chill the Air, they
may sink their Houses down under Ground, where they keep themselves
secure from the Severity of the Weather: But as soon as the gentle
Breathings of the Spring begin to soften and qualifie the Air; they
raise them above Ground again, by means of the great Skrew I told you
of."
[1] This and the following paragraphs appear to be an anticipation of
the microbe theory.
[2] Fr., "dont les Séditieux se sont gorgés"--with which the rebels
have filled their bellies.
[3] Cf. p. 95, n. 1.