c CUNYB/Clarke     December, :



Thoughts of Retirement

Although there is nothing to keep me here [in Holland] – except that I know

of no other place I would prefer to be–Irealize that I am in great danger of

spending the rest of my days here’ (February).

I

contrast with the previous year, the winter of–was one of the

mildest that Descartes had experienced since his arrival in the United

Provinces.In other circumstances, this would have been a welcome change

forthe resident Frenchman. However, in JanuaryDescartes was

recording variations in barometric pressure and comparing his results to

those obtained by Mersenne in Paris. For scientific reasons, therefore, he

would have welcomed a cold spell.His correspondence with Mersenne

in the early months ofshowed a continued interest in the issues that

had been raised by Pascal during the previous summer, and in the debate

about barometric measurements and the so-called vacuum at the top of a

Torricelli tube. He even claimed to have been looking forward to seeing

anewbook on the subject by Father Noel, entitled ̈ Gravity Compared,

despite his legendary reluctance to read other people’s publications.

What was even more evident, at the beginning of, was Descartes’

indecision about where he planned to live during the following years. He

had promised Picot to spend the winter of–with him in Paris.

This plan was now in the process of being changed. He now hoped to visit

Paris much earlier in the year and, possibly, to remain there indefinitely.

Thus when Mersenne experienced practical difficulties in an experiment

that involved lighting a flame inside the top of a Torricelli tube, Descartes

suggested that they could do the experiment together ‘during the summer,

when I shall be in Paris, if you have not done it before then’ (v.). His

immediate plan was to continue his scientific investigations at Egmond,

since he feared that he might never again have the leisure required to

