Descartes: A Biography

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

 Notes to Pages–

.Forexample, he wrote to Balzac, one of his most loyal friends in France, on

Juneand gave as his address ‘Holland’. Descartes wrote to Mersenne,June

, that his letters had to pass through Haarlem to reach him, without telling his

correspondent where exactly he was, and that he should address them to a priest,

Mr. Bloemaert, who would ensure their safe delivery (ii.). The same concerns

emerged in August, when Descartes had reason to worry that some letters

between Mersenne and himself had got lost or had been intercepted in transit. He

advised him (August) that letters sent through Haarlem would not be lost,

although he should also ensure that they were properly sealed (ii.).

.However, he had not yet moved when he wrote to Huygens,July(i.).

.Huygens to Descartes,September(i.). The original phrase occurred

in theDiscoursewhen Descartes was describing the way in which God might have

created matter ‘in imaginary spaces’ (vi.). Huygens reuses the same phrase, in a

letter to Descartes onNovember, when informing him that a package had

taken eighteen days to arrive at Breda from the ‘imaginary spaces’ where he lived

(i.).

.Descartes to Huygens,January(ii.).

.This is repeated in Descartes to Mersenne [October]. ‘Whatever the quality

of the objections that may be made to my writings, please oblige me by sending

them all to me, and I shall not fail to answer them – at least if they or their authors

are worth the slightest bother, and if they agree to have me publish them when I

have gathered enough to compose an appropriate volume’ (i.–).

.He had sent a copy to theStadtholderthrough Huygens, and had asked Huygens to

give copies to the French ambassador for presentation to the king and to Richelieu

(Descartes to Huygens, June:i.). However, the ambassador’s premature

death at Breda probably frustrated that plan. Descartes also sent copies to Cardinals

Baign ́e and Barberini, and he was happy that the papal nuncio in France might ensure

their safe delivery in Rome (Descartes to Mersenne, December: ii.–).

.Descartes to Father Noel [October ̈ ] includes the suggestion that Cartesian

physics might be integrated into the Jesuit curriculum. ‘It seems to me that no one

has more interest in examining this book than the members of your society. For I

see already that so many people are beginning to accept its contents that, especially

in the case of theMeteors,Ido not know how they will be able to teach this material

in future, as they do every year in most of your colleges, unless they either refute

what I wrote or else accept it’ (i.). Descartes makes a general exception for ‘the

Jesuit Fathers and those of the Oratory’ when he asks Mersenne (March)

not to forward any more unwelcome criticisms (ii.). One year after publication,

he asked Mersenne (July) whether the Jesuits at La Fl`eche were teaching

hisMeteorsor refuting it, and he suggested that one could find out by consulting

their ‘public theses, which occur at about this time of year’ (ii.–).

.Forexample, Alphonse Pollot (–), to whom Descartes sent a copy of the

Geometry, with this comment: ‘I think it is a great honour that you wish to take the

trouble to examine myGeometry.Ishall reserve for you one of the six copies that were

destined for the first six people who would seem to me capable of understanding it’