XIII. This distinction is the fundamental maxim, by which the modern philosophers maintain their rejection of all the sensible qualities, which are assigned by Aristotle and his followers to objects; and they carry the matter so far, that they will positively assert to you, that neither snow is white, nor charcoal black, nor a bell sonorous, nor a flower fragrant; and if you mean to express by these denominations, intrinsic qualities, or such as proceed from some accidental intrinsic form contained in objects; they will not allow such descriptions of things to be good and valid, but only so far as they signify certain determined impressions, which by means of the physical and corporeal impulse of the insensible particles of matter, are made on our organs, which are of the same use to us, to enable us to chuse the good, and avoid the pernicious, as our knowledge of the real intrinsic forms would be. They proceed to assert, that men would equally abstain from eating arsenic, if they believed the moderns, who say this mineral kills by dissolving the blood, by the rapid motion of its particles; as they would by believing Aristotle, who imputes all the mischief it occasions to be the effect of a venomous quality existing in the arsenic, and that they would be equally anxious to acquire gold, by believing the moderns, who say its brilliant yellow hue is the effect of a determined impression made by the light on the retina, where it appears reflected in that colour, from the particular texture of the insensible particles of the gold, as they would, by believing Aristotle, who says, the colour proceeds from an accidental form, inherent in the gold itself. I know very well, that a learned philosopher said, a little while ago, that the ladies had great reason to complain of Descartes, for having taken from their faces that delicate smooth whiteness which makes them look so tempting, and for having placed it in their admirer’s eyes. But although this may do very well as a joke, it is certain, that the charm has an equal effect to make them appear desirable, whether it is stamped on the eyes, by the particular reflection, which, by the determined texture of the insensible particles of the skin, is made by the light, or whether it is produced by the intrinsic quality, which the Aristotelicans assign as the cause of colours; and I much doubt, whether to this day, the Carthesian philosophy has served any man as a preservative, against the venom of that sweet poison, which we call beauty. SECT. IV.