“doubts might be imported”: Ibid., p. 39.
“But I have found nothing”: Letter to Marin Mersenne, in Descartes,Philosophical Writings, vol. 3, p. 134.
“Now I am dissecting the heads”: Letter to Mersenne, in Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 1, p. 263, quoted in Gaukroger, Descartes, p. 228.
“prevented by the brevity of life”: Descartes, Discourse, p. 46.
As absurd as Descartes’ hopeful ideas: For the discussion of Descartes’hopeful beliefs about medicine, and how he was looked upon for his medical wisdom, I rely mainly on Shapin, “Descartes the Doctor: Rationalism and Its Therapies.”
Meanwhile, proving that he was truly modern: Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 1, p. 434.
We happen to know that on October 15, 1634: Information on Helena Jans and Francine comes from Baillet, La vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, vol. 2, pp. 89–91; Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 1, pp. 299, 393–94; Rodis-Lewis, Descartes, pp. 137–41; Gaukroger, Descartes, pp. 294–95; Van der Ven, “Quelques données.”
“as a peasant does with his field”: Quoted in Masson, Queen Christina,p. 144.
She was said to treat certain young ladies: Buckley, Christina, p. 141.
“Perhaps this will pass”: Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 5, p. 430.
“I am out of my element”: Ibid., p. 467.
“that if he had to die”: Ibid., p. 478.
“oily”: Baillet, La vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, vol. 2, p. 420.
“the death-rattle, black sputum”: Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 5, pp. 477–78. Translated for the author by Jane Alison.
“We are afflicted in this house”: The letters quoted in this paragraph are all found in Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 5, pp. 470–78.
“would have lived five hundred years”: Baillet, La vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, vol. 2, p. 452. Quoted in Shapin, “Descartes the Doctor,” p. 141.
Chapter 2 Banquet of Bones
“Death,” the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once wrote: The complete passage from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus goes as follows: “Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in just the way in which our visual field has no limits.”
Where Chanut had been an enthusiastic promoter”: My sources on Terlon are Terlon’s Mémoires du Chevalier de Terlon; the Swedish encyclopedia Nordisk familjebok; and Dominique Terlon, family genealogist.
Anne attended Mass: My source on Anne of Austria is Kleinman, Anne of Austria.
Terlon had been in the process: Principal sources on disinterment in Sweden and transportation of the bones from Stockholm to Paris are Baillet, La vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes; Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres; “Documentation concernant le crâne de Descartes.”
“nearly the whole Catholic Church of Sweden”: Baillet, La vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, vol. 2, p. 598.
“without indecence”: Ibid., p. 597.
Here in Sweden: Lindborg, Descartes i Uppsala, p. 339.
“the appearance of a bundle of rocks”: Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 12, p. 599.
The notes taken by an anonymous lawyer: Clair, Jacques Rohault, pp. 51–52.
Here Descartes and his followers: I am generalizing here; in fact, there were many variations on this basic Scholastic theme regarding knowledge and perception.
Rohault dismantles this logic: This example from Rohault’s System of Natural Philosophy comes by way of Watson, Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics, p. 87.
A notion had first struck Descartes: Gaukroger, Descartes, p. 356.
Protestants (some of them, anyway): Lutherans, for one, did not, and do not, believe either that the host represents the body of Christ or that its substance is replaced by the substance of Christ’s body, but rather that, with the act of consecration, the two substances—bread and body—coexist. My account of transubstantiation and Cartesianism relies on Schmaltz, Radical Cartesianism; Watson, Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics; and Armogathe,“ ‘Hoc Est Corpus Meum’ ” and Theologia Cartesiana.
In Catholic theology: Precisely what happens during transubstantiation has remained a sticky point for the Catholic Church. In one of its most recent attempts at clarification, a 1981 report on points of reconciliation with the Anglican Church notes, “The word transubstantiation is commonly used in the Roman Catholic Church to indicate that God acting in the eucharist effects a change in the inner reality of the elements. The term should be seen as affirming the fact of Christ’s presence and of the mysterious and radical change which takes place.” The document then skirts the problem that gave the Church—and the Cartesians—headaches in the seventeenth century, adding that “in contemporary Roman Catholictheology [transubstantiation] is not understood as explaining how the change takes place” (Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission, Final Report, p. 14).
“our Lord Jesus Christ”: Waterworth, Council of Trent, 13th sess., ch. 1.
“Numerous stories were known”: Watson, Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics, p. 160.
“I was so surprised by this”: Gaukroger, Descartes, p. 290.
Robert Desgabets: Details about Desgabets come from Schmaltz, Radical Cartesianism, and Watson, Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics.
Desgabets journeyed to Paris: Desgabets held that the Aristotelian explanation of the Christian miracle didn’t work because it required the first substance, that of the bread, to be eliminated before it could be replaced by the second substance, that of Christ’s body. Matter, Desgabets argued, could not be destroyed.
Finally, on an evening in late June: Details on the funeral of 1667 come from Baillet, La vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, vol. 2, ch. 23.
“illustrious and learned ghost”: Van Damme, “Restaging Descartes.”
The archbishop of Paris: Quotations are from Schmaltz, Radical Cartesianism, pp. 29–33.
The end result, however: Armogathe and Carraud, “L’ouverture des archives de la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi.”
Most significant for history: My sources on Malebranche and Arnauld include Lawrence Nolan, “Malebranche’s Theory of Ideas and Vision in God,” and Steven Nadler, Arnauld and the Cartesian Philosophy of Ideas.
Chapter 3 Unholy Relics
“at Cards Dice”: Quoted in Uglow, Lunar Men, p. 51.
Voltaire, the godfather of the French Enlightenment: Voltaire, Lettres philosophiques, pp. 2–3.
“was the founder”: Rée, Descartes, pp. 30–31.
In the 1720s, Alberto Radicati: Jacob, Radical Enlightenment, pp. 172–76, and Israel, Radical Enlightenment, p. 69.
Even among the first generation of Cartesians: My paragraph on women and female sexuality relies on Israel, Radical Enlightenment, ch. 4: “Women, Philosophy, and Sexuality.”
“if I vindicate”: Collins, A Discourse of Free-Thinking, p. 5.
“the Devil is intirely banish’d”: Ibid., p. 28.
The modern French scholar: Vovelle, Piété baroque et déchristianisa-tionen Provence au XVIII siècle.
“By the Universe”: Quoted in Berman, Atheism in Britain, p. xii.
“calls God Nature”: Quoted in Israel, Radical Enlightenment, p. 4.
“Those who have seen naked spirits”: Ibid., p. 375.
“Immense pains have therefore”: Spinoza, Theologico-Political Treatise, preface, in Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza.
“The spirit that animated the reformers”: Quoted in Schouls, Descartes and the Enlightenment, p. 73.
“Enlightenment,” he declared: Quoted in Cassirer, Philosophy of the Enlightenment, p. 163.
“The Old World imagined”: Commager, Empire of Reason, p. xi.
He had a face that could best: Information on Lenoir and the Museum of French Monuments comes from portions of a doctoral dissertation on Lenoir by Jennifer Carter; correspondence with Carter; Christopher Greene’s “Alexandre Lenoir and the Musée des
monuments français during the French Revolution”; Lenoir’s own Description historique et chronologique and Notice historique; Louis Courajod’s Alexandre Lenoir; Guy Cogeval and Gilles Genty’s La logique de l’inaltérable; and the three-volume Statistique monumentale de Paris, compiled by Lenoir’s son Albert.
Some of the parlements: Quotations and details come from duc de Croy, Journal inédit du duc de Croy, 1718–1784, pp. 220–28, and Palmer, Age of the Democratic Revolution, pp. 94–96.
atheism was proclaimed: A reaction to the extremes of the Cult of Reason sprang up in the form of the Cult of the Supreme Being, which followed a deist course in believing that a divine being, which could be understood by reason rather than faith, oversaw the earth, and France in particular. Meanwhile, at a time when priests were forbidden to practice Mass or give Communion, villagers throughout the country took the sacraments up themselves, with a layman officiating. They tried to get around both the death penalty that was instituted for consecrating a host and Catholic qualms about nonpriests trying to effect the transubstantiation of the host by performing what were called white masses, in which the layman performing the mass did not consecrate the bread and wine but rather instilled in them symbolic meaning. All of which shows, perhaps, that even within the hardened core of radical modernity, the French Revolution itself, the three ways of dealing with the intersection of reason and faith that have played out over and over since the time of Descartes—radical secular, moderate, and determinedly religious—manifested themselves.
“he had understood that it must be derived”: Quoted in Schouls, Descartes and the Enlightenment, p. 67.
Lenoir collected feverishly: Archives du Musée des monuments français,vol. 2, p. 36.
So meticulous was Lenoir: Ibid., pp. 27–37.
For Lenoir, Descartes was not only: Lenoir, Description, p. 243.
“I was a real republican”: Archives du Musée des monuments français, vol. 1, pp. 16–17.
Lenoir later said: Lenoir, Notice historique, pp. 22–23.
“Your committee of public instruction”: Chénier, Rapport fait à la Convention nationale, au nom du Comité d’instruction publique.
“We have thought that a nation”: Quoted in Bonnet, Naissance du Panthéon, p. 315.
“ ’ Tis not contrary to reason”: Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, p. 167.
“Man himself must make”: Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone.
“Sepulchral lamps hang”: Lenoir, Description, pp. 93–94; here quoted in Greene, “Alexandre Lenoir,” p. 213.
“The French cherish this famous revolution”: Lenoir, Description, p. v.
“In that calm and peaceful garden”: Ibid., p. 17; here quoted in Greene, “Alexandre Lenoir,” p. 214.
“No. 507. Sarcophagus, in hard stone”: Lenoir, Description, p. 243.
“the remarkable question”: The quotation from Chénier and Merciercome from Chénier, Rapport fait par Marie-Joseph Chénier, as reprintedin the Gazette nationale, ou le Moniteur universel of May 14, 1796, and the chapter “Panthéonisé” that Mercier subsequently wrote in Le nouveau Paris.
“the 10th of Prairial”: In their zeal to transform and modernize every aspect of life the revolutionaries streamlined the calendar and renamed the months. Each revolutionary month had thirty days—divided into three ten-day weeks—and the months were named for seasonal changes. Prairial—which ran from mid-May to mid-June—meant essentially “the month the prairies flower.” Of course, it was also imperative to drop the Gregorian dating system, which counted years from the birth of Christ. The new system started time over, with Year One reckoned from the official beginning of the French Republic, in 1792.
“those who have invitations”: Quoted in Shaw, “Time of Place.”
He tried to resell it: Lenoir, Description, p. 113.
Chapter 4 The Misplaced Head
By the end of the 1600s: Coleman, Georges Cuvier, p. 18.
The greatest of these chemists: My information on Berzelius comes from Jorpes, Jac. Berzelius, and from documents in the collection of the Natural History Museum in Paris.
“it is impossible to describe the bliss”: Jorpes, Jac. Berzelius, p. 42.
As Maurice Crosland: My account of the Academy of Sciences draws on Crosland, as well as on the academy’s own history.
Crosland argues that it was: It was also true that the French Revolution nudged the academy out of existence for a time; because it had had royal backing, it was seen as a reactionary institution. It returned as the National Institute, then, in 1816, resumed as the Academy of Sciences.
When Franz Mesmer came to Paris: My account of Mesmer is based on Donaldson, “Mesmer’s 1780 Proposal for a Controlled Trial,” and on e-mail correspondence with Donaldson.
He was awed by Paris: Jorpes, Jac. Berzelius, p. 82.
He did, however, discuss these observations: I infer that discussion was informal because I haven’t been able to locate reference to an official report on the topic in the minutes of the academy during this time, whereas there are later official reports on the remains of Descartes.
“has realized all those combinations”: Cuvier, Leçons d’anatomie comparée; quoted in Coleman, Georges Cuvier, pp. 171–72.
On April 30, 1821: Details of this meeting come from Académie des Sciences, Procès-verbaux des séances.
The two astronomers: Delambre had actually crossed paths with Descartes’ bones at this earlier time; while the revolutionary leaders were debating moving Descartes’ remains to the Pantheon, he was performing his metric measurements from the highest point in Paris—the cupola of the Pantheon.
“I have not told the public”: Quoted in Alder, Measure of All Things, p. 6.
Within the first 128 days: Vass, “Beyond the Grave,” p. 191.
In the 1860s and 1870s: What follows relies on the Liljewalch collection at the Lund University library, Sweden; Verneau, “Les restes de Descartes”; and Ahlström et al., “Cartesius’ Kranium.” I infer that Lilje-walch began to chart Descartes’ skull in the 1860s and 1870s from the dates found in his notes: the latest dates for which he recorded notes are 1869 and 1872.
He became the object of affection: My miniportrait of Nordenflycht comes from Stålmarck, Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht, and from the Web site of Uppsala University.
another Swedish devotee: My account of Sparrman’s career relies on Beaglehole, Life of Captain James Cook, and Sparrman, Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope.
The story sounded quite fascinating: Quoted in Ahlström et al., “Cartesius’ Kranium,” p. 35.
Besides reporting anatomical particularities: What follows comes from Ahlström et al., “Cartesius’ Kranium.”
“the Academy of Sciences received last Monday”: Berzelius, Berzelius brev. I, pp. 76–84.
Chapter 5 Cranial Capacity
Franz Joseph Gall was nothing if not consistent: My account of Gall and the advent of phrenology comes from Colbert, Measure of Perfection; Lanteri-Laura, Histoire de la phrénologie; Staum, Labeling People; Young, Mind, Brain, and Adaptation; Zola-Morgan, “Localization of Brain Function”; and Ackerknecht, “Contributions of Gall.”
“This doctrine concerning the head”: Quoted in Zola-Morgan, “Localization of Brain Function,” p. 364.
“I frequently quote Descartes”: Ibid., p. 375.
“Your faculty”: Quoted in Young, Mind, Brain, and Adaptation, p. 71.
“Each succeeding age”: Ibid., pp. 71–72.
“Descartes goes off to die”: Ibid., p. 72.
“Flourens’ advocacy of physiological”: Ibid., pp. 73–74.
“The reason I believe this”: Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 3, pp. 19–20.
Descartes had scarcely aired: My account of mind-body dualism is based in part on Lokhorst, “Descartes and the Pineal Gland.”
“It does not seem to me”: Adam and Tannery, Oeuvres, vol. 3, p. 693; quoted in Lokhorst, “Descartes and the Pineal Gland.”
“For many philosopher
s”: Nagel, View from Nowhere, pp. 7–8.
“Although there is a connection”: Ibid., p. 4.
“we cannot expect a physiological”: Académie des Sciences, Procès-verbaux des séances, April 25, 1808.
In Lessons in Comparative Anatomy: Cuvier, Leçons d’anatomie comparée,lesson 8, p. 7.
“The Negro race”: Cuvier, Le règne animal, p. 95.
Wagner identified the root: Hagner, “Skulls, Brains, and Memorial Culture,” p. 210.
“This preference is without doubt”: Bulletins de la Société d’anthropologie de Paris, 1861, p. 139.
“In general, the brain is larger”: Quoted in Pearce, “Louis Pierre Gratiolet,” p. 263.
“One can thus affirm”: Bulletins de la Société d’anthropologie de Paris, 1861, p. 428.
“If it is permitted”: The account of Gratiolet’s adventure with Cuvier’s hat is found in the Bulletins de la Société d’anthropologie de Paris, 1861, p. 428. I have also relied on the retelling of it in Gould, Panda’s Thumb, and in Schiller, Paul Broca.
“This is one of the most beautiful types”: Bulletins de la Société d’anthropologie de Paris, 1861, p. 70.
“Monsieur Gratiolet . . . has said”: Ibid., p. 71.
“Our colleague Monsieur Gratiolet”: Ibid., pp. 164–65.
“the circumstances of the death of Descartes”: Ibid., pp. 224–25.
“However, when I expressed this opinion”: Ibid., pp. 238–39.
“Race is a social concept”: “Do Races Differ? Not Really, Genes Show,” New York Times, August 22, 2000.
“In new studies and reviews”: http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/ rushton_res.htm.
“inherently gloomy”: Times Online, October 17, 2007; http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2677098.ece.
Chapter 6 Habeas Corpus
The members received a report: Académie des Sciences, Comptes rendus, September 23, 1912.
“Great turmoil”: Verneau, “Les restes de Descartes.”
“This communication arouses”: Journal des débats politiques et littéraires,September 25, 1912.
“One knew that the great philosopher”: Gazette de France, September 23, 1912.
“Every hypothesis was allowed”: Verneau, “Les restes de Descartes.”212 “with all the respect due”: Perrier, “Sur le crâne dit ‘de Descartes.’ ” 212 “They talked about it”: Cabanès, “Les tribulations posthumes de Descartes.”
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