66 DESCARTES. 



aw by which we are bound to promote, as far as in 

 lies, the general good of mankind. For by them 

 I perceived it to be possible to arrive at knowledge 

 highly useful in life, and in room of the Speculative 

 Philosophy usually taught in the Schools, to dis- 

 cover a Practical, by means of which, knowing the 

 force and action of fire, water, air, the stars, the 

 heavens, and all the other bodies that surround us, 

 as distinctly as we know the various crafts of our 

 artizans, we might also apply them in the same way 

 , to all the uses to which they are adapted, and thus 

 render ourselves the lords and possessors of nature. 

 And this is a result to be desired, not only in order 

 to the invention of an infinity of arts, by which we 

 might be enabled to enjoy without any trouble the 

 fruits of the earth, and all its comforts, but also and 

 especially for the preservation of health, which is 

 without doubt, of all the blessings of this life, the 

 first and fundamental one ; for the mind is so inti- 

 mately dependent upon the condition and relation 

 of the organs of the body, that if any means can 

 ever be found to render men wiser and more ingen- 

 ious than hitherto, I believe that it is in Medicine 

 they must be sought for. It is true that the science 

 of Medicine, as it now exists, contains few things 

 whose utility is very remarkable : but without any 

 wish to depreciate it, I am confident that there is no 

 one, even among those whose profession it is, who 

 does not admit that all at present known in it is 

 almost nothing in comparison of what remains to be 

 discovered; and that we could free ourselves from 

 an infinity of maladies of body as well as of mind, 



