Delphi Collected Works of René Descartes by René Descartes
The five passions which I have here commenced to explain are so united or opposed the one to the other, that it is easier to consider them all together than to treat each of them separately, as wonder has been treated; and their cause is not, as is that of the latter, in the brain alone, but also in the heart, the spleen, the liver, and in all the other portions of the body in as far as they serve for the production of the blood and consequently of the spirits. For, although all the veins conduct the blood which they contain towards the heart, yet it sometimes happens that the blood of certain of them is driven there with greater strength than that of others; it also happens that the openings by which it enters into the heart, or else those by which it issues out, are more enlarged or contracted on one occasion than on the other.
ARTICLE XCVII.
The chief experiences that furnish us with the knowledge of these movements in Love.
Now in considering the various alterations which experience causes us to observe in our body while our soul is agitated by various passions, I notice in love that when it occurs alone, that is, when it is unaccompanied by any strong joy, desire, or sadness, the beating of the pulse is equal and much fuller and stronger than is usually the case, that we feel a gentle heat in the breast, and that the digestion of food is accomplished very quickly in the stomach. In this way this passion is useful to health.
ARTICLE XCVIII.
In Hatred.
I notice, on the other hand, that in hatred the pulse is unequal, feebler, and often quicker; that we have fits of cold interspersed with a severe and biting heat in the breast difficult to describe; that the stomach ceases to fulfil its functions and is inclined to vomit and reject the food that has been eaten, or at least to corrupt them and convert them into evil humours.
ARTICLE XCIX.
In Joy.
In joy, that the pulse is equal and quicker than usual, but that it is not so strong or full as in love, and that we feel an agreeable heat which is not only in the breast, but also spreads throughout all the other exterior parts of the body with the blood which we see present there in abundance; and yet that we sometimes lose our appetite because the digestion is not so active as usual.
ARTICLE C.
In Sadness.
In sadness, that the pulse is feeble and slow, and that we feel as it were constrictions round the heart which press upon it, and icy chills which congeal it and communicate their cold to the rest of the body; and that nevertheless we continue in certain cases to have a good appetite and to feel that the stomach does not fail to do its duty, provided that there is no hatred mingled with the sadness.
ARTICLE CI.
In Desire.
I finally notice this peculiarity about desire, that it agitates the heart more violently than any of the other passions, and furnishes more spirits to the brain, which, passing from thence into the muscles, render all the senses more acute, and all the parts of the body more mobile.
ARTICLE CII.
The movement of the blood and spirits in Love.
These observations, and many others which would be too lengthy to transcribe, have caused me to judge that when the understanding represents to itself some object of love, the impression which this reflection makes in the brain leads the animal spirits, by the nerves of the sixth part, towards the muscles which are around the intestines and stomach in the manner requisite to cause the juice of the food, which converts itself into new blood, to pass quickly towards the heart without stopping in the liver; and that being driven thither with more strength than any that is in the other parts of the body, it enters in greater abundance and excites there a stronger heat because it is coarser than that which has already been several times rarefied in passing and repassing through the heart. And this causes the spirits also to be sent to the brain, whose parts are coarser and more agitated than usual. And these spirits, fortifying the impression which the first thought of the agreeable object there makes, oblige the soul to pause over this reflection; and it is in this that the passion of love consists.
ARTICLE CIII.
In Hatred.
In hatred, on the other hand, the first thought of the object which brings about aversion so conducts the animal spirits which are in the brain towards the muscles of the stomach and intestines, that they prevent the juice of the food from mingling with the blood by closing up all the openings by which it usually flows there; and it also conducts them in such a way toward the little nerves of the spleen and of the lower portion of the liver, where is the receptacle of the bile, that the portions of the blood which are usually thrown back towards these parts issue from them and flow with that which is in the branches of the vena cava towards the heart; and this causes many inequalities in its heat, insomuch that the blood which comes from the spleen hardly heats and rarefies itself at all, while on the contrary that which comes from the lower part of the liver, where the gall always is, enflames and dilates very quickly. In consequence of this the animal spirits which go to the brain also have very unequal parts and very extraordinary movements, from whence it comes about that they strengthen the ideas of hatred which are found to be already imprinted there, and dispose the soul to reflections which are full of sharpness and bitterness.
ARTICLE CIV.
In Joy.
In joy it is not so much the nerves of the spleen, the liver, or the stomach, or the intestines, which are active, as those which are in the whole of the rest of the body, and particularly that which is round the orifices of the heart, which, opening and enlarging these orifices, supplies the means whereby the blood which the other nerves drive from the veins to the heart may enter there and issue forth in a larger quantity than usual. And because the blood which then enters the heart has already passed and repassed there several times, having come from the arteries to the veins, it dilates very easily and produces spirits whose parts, being very equal and subtle, are proper for the formation and fortification of the impressions of the brain which give to the soul thoughts which are gay and peaceful.
ARTICLE CV.
In Sadness.
In sadness, on the contrary, the openings of the heart are much contracted by the small nerve which surrounds them, and the blood of the veins is in nowise agitated, which brings it to pass that very little of it goes towards the heart and yet the passages by which the juice of the food flows from the stomach and the intestines towards the liver remain open, which causes the appetite not to diminish at all, excepting when hatred, which is often united to sadness, closes them.
ARTICLE CVI.
In Desire.
Finally, to the passion of desire the following fact is proper, namely, that the wish which we have to obtain some good, or to avoid some evil, promptly sends the animal spirits from the brain to all the portions of the body which may be of service in the actions requisite for this effect, and particularly to the heart and the parts which furnish it with most blood, so that in receiving greater abundance than usual, it sends a greater quantity of spirits towards the brain, both in order to maintain and fortify there the idea of this wish, and to pass from thence into all the organs of the senses and all the muscles which may be employed in obtaining that which we desire.
ARTICLE CVII.
What is the cause of its movements in Love.
And I deduce the reasons for all this from what has been said above, that there is a connection between our soul and our body such that when we have once joined some corporeal action with some thought, the one of the two never after presents itself to us without the other presenting itself at the same time. We see in the case of those who have in illness taken some concoction with great aversion, that they can neither drink nor eat afterwards any thing approaching it in taste without the same aversion coming back to them; and similarly they cannot think of the aversion in which the medicines are held, without the same taste coming back to them in thought. For it seems to me that the earliest passions that our soul had had when first it was joined to our body must be due to the fact t
ARTICLE CVIII.
In Hatred.
Sometimes, on the other hand, there comes to the heart some juice of a foreign nature which was not qualified to maintain heat, or which even was capable of extinguishing it, and this was the reason that the spirits which rose from the heart to the brain excited in the soul the passion of hatred; and at the same time also these spirits went from the brain to the nerves which were able to drive the blood of the spleen and of the small veins of the liver towards the heart in order to prevent this hurtful juice from entering therein; and further they went towards these nerves which could drive back this juice to the intestines and stomach, or sometimes likewise oblige the stomach to vomit: and from this it results that these same movements usually accompany the passion of hatred. And our eye shows us that there are in the liver numbers of veins or ducts of sufficient width by which the juice of the food could pass from the portal vein into the vena cava and from thence to the heart without delaying at all in the liver. But there is also an infinitude of others that are smaller, where it might stop, and which always contains blood in reserve as does the spleen also; which blood being coarser than that which is in the other portions of the body is capable of serving better as nourishment to the fire which is in the heart, when the stomach and intestines fail to supply it with nutriment.
ARTICLE CIX.
In Joy.
It has also sometimes happened in the beginning of our life that the blood contained in the veins was a nourishment sufficiently well suited to maintain the heat of the heart, and that they contained it in such a quantity that there was no need to derive any nourishment from elsewhere. And this has excited in the soul the passion of joy, and has at the same time caused the orifices of the heart to be more open than usual; it has also brought it to pass that the animal spirits (flowing abundantly from the brain, not alone into the nerves which serve for opening these orifices, but also generally speaking into all the others which drive the blood of the veins to the heart) prevent any fresh blood from coming from the liver, spleen, intestines and stomach. That is why these same movements accompany joy.
ARTICLE CX.
In Sadness.
Sometimes on the contrary it has happened that the body has lack of nourishment, and it is this that must give the soul its first experience of sadness — that sadness at least which is as yet free from intermixture with hatred. The same reason has also caused the orifices of the heart to be contracted, because they receive only a small quantity of blood; and a sufficiently notable proportion of the blood from the spleen is present because it is so to speak the ultimate reservoir which serves to furnish blood to the heart when enough does not come to it from elsewhere. That is why the movements of the spirits and of the nerves which serve to contract thus the cavities of the heart and to conduct there the blood of the spleen, invariably accompany sadness.
ARTICLE CXI.
Of Desire.
To conclude, all the first desires which the soul can have had when it was newly joined to the body have been desires of receiving the things that were suitable to it, and of repelling those which were hurtful; and it has been to bring about these same effects that the spirits have henceforth commenced to produce movements in all the muscles and all the organs of the senses, in every method in which they can move them. And this is the cause that now, when the soul desires something, the whole body becomes more agile and more disposed towards movement than it customarily is apart from desire. And when it further happens that the body is so disposed, that renders the desires of the soul stronger and more ardent.
ARTICLE CXII.
The external signs of these Passions.
That which I have set down here makes sufficiently clear the cause of the differences in the pulse and of all the other properties which I have above attributed to these passions, without there being any necessity for me to pause in order to explain them further. But because I have only remarked in each that which may be observed to accompany it when it is alone, and which serves for a knowledge of the movements of the blood and the spirits which produce them, it still remains for me to treat of the several exterior signs which usually accompany them, and which are much better observed when several are mingled with one another as they usually are, than when they are separated. The principal of these signs are the actions of the eyes and face, changes of colour, tremors, languor, swooning, laughter, tears, groans and sighs.
ARTICLE CXIII.
Of the actions of the Eyes and Face.
There is no passion that is not evidenced by some particular action of the eyes. And that is so manifest in certain emotions that even the stupidest servants can remark by the eye of their master if he is or is not angry with them. But although these actions of the eyes are easily perceived, and that which they signify is known, it is not, for all that, easy to describe them, since each is composed of many changes which take place in the movement and shape of the eye which are so unique and so slight that we cannot perceive each one separately, although the result of their conjunction is very easily observed. We may say almost the same of the actions of the face which also accompany the passions, for although they are of greater extent than those of the eyes, it is at the same time hard to distinguish them; and they are so little different that there are men who present almost the same mien when they weep as when they laugh. It is true that there are some which are remarkable enough, as are the seams in the forehead which come in anger, and certain movements of nose and lips in indignation and scorn; but they do not so much appear to be natural as voluntary. And generally speaking all actions, whether of face or eyes, may be changed by the soul when, desiring to hide a passion, it vigorously calls up the image of a contrary one: so that we may make use of these actions as well in dissimulating our passions as in evidencing them.
ARTICLE CXIV.
Of changes of Colour.
We cannot so easily prevent ourselves from flushing or becoming pale when some passion disposes us to do so, because these changes do not depend on the nerves and muscles, as do the preceding, and because they proceed more immediately from the heart, which may be called the source of the passions, inasmuch as it prepares the blood and the spirits for producing them. It is, however, certain that the colour of the face only proceeds from the blood which, continually flowing from the heart by the arteries into all the veins, and from all the veins into the heart, produces more or less colour in the face, according as it to a larger or less extent fills the small veins which are towards its surface.
ARTICLE CXV.
How Joy causes us to flush.
Joy thus makes the colour more vivid and more ruddy, because in opening the sluices of the heart it causes the blood to flow more quickly in all the veins, and because, becoming warmer and more subtle, it moderately distends all the parts of the face, and thus gives it a more cheerful and lively expression.
ARTICLE CXVI.
How Sadness causes paleness.
Sadness, on the contrary, in contracting the orifices of the heart, causes the blood to flow more slowly in the veins, and, becoming colder and thicker, the blood requires less space there, so that, retreating into those that are widest and which are nearest to the heart, it leaves the more remote; and since the most conspicuous of these are in the face, this causes it to become pale a
ARTICLE CXVII.
How we often flush though we are sad.
But it often happens that we do not become pale in sadness, but on the contrary become red, which must be attributed to other passions which unite themselves to sadness, to wit, possibly desire, and sometimes also hatred. These passions, heating or agitating the blood which proceeds from the liver, intestines and other interior parts, drive it towards the heart, and from thence by the great artery to the veins of the face, without the sadness which closes more or less the orifices of the heart being able to prevent it, excepting when it is an extreme sadness. But although it be only moderate, it easily prevents the blood thus come into the veins of the face from descending towards the heart, while love, desire, or hatred, force into it other portions of the blood coming from the internal parts. That is why this blood, being arrested around the face, renders it red and even redder than during joy, because the colour of the blood appears so much the more as it flows less quickly, and also because it can thus better collect in the veins of the face than when the orifices of the heart are more open. This is principally seen in shame, which is made up of self-love and a pressing desire to avoid present disgrace which causes the blood of the interior parts to come towards the heart and then from thence by the arteries to the face, and there is also present a moderate amount of sadness which prevents this blood from returning to the heart. The same thing usually appears when we weep, for, as I shall afterwards maintain, it is love joined to sadness which most frequently causes tears; and the same thing is evidenced in anger, where frequently a prompt desire for vengeance is mingled with love, hatred and sadness.
ARTICLE CXVIII.
Of Tremors.
Tremors have two different causes; the one is that sometimes too little of the spirits in the brain passes into the nerves, and the other is that sometimes there comes too much to permit of the exact closing of the small passages of the muscle, which, in pursuance of what has been said in Article XI, ought to be closed in order to determine the movements of the members. The first cause is evidenced in sadness and fear, as also when we tremble with cold; for these passions may, just as well as the coldness of the air, so thicken the blood that it does not furnish enough spirits to the brain to permit of the despatch of some of them into the nerves. The other cause often appears in those who ardently desire something, and in those who are strongly moved by prayer, as also in those who are drunken. For these two passions, as well as wine, sometimes cause so many animal spirits to proceed to the brain that they cannot be conducted in a properly regulated way from thence to the muscles.