DESBARHES. 152 DESCARTES. tant ongincoring surveys in Xova Seotia, Xow- fdundlaiiil, anil otlior IJritish oolonios, with a view of establishing a ehain of military posts. He wa.s also engaged in correcting olil and mak- ing new charts of the Xorth American coast, which were published in two volumes in 1777, under the title of the Atlantic ^icptune. In 1784 he iM'came (iovcrnor of the island of Cape Hreton. and soon afterwards began to build the town cii Sydney, where he opened the coal trade. In ISO;'), at the age of eighty-three, lie was made l.ieutenanttiovernor and comniandcrinchief of Prince Kdward Island, and served until 1813. DESBORDES-VALMORE, dA'bOrd' val'mAr', Mauikiim: 1- ri.lciTK .losii'iiK ( 178i)-18.5i)). A French poet, born at Douai. Slie began public life as a singer in comic opera (1801), but soon left the stage, and from 1819 till 1843 published sentimental verses of much sweetness and pathos, collected under the suggestive titles: EUgics ct roniiiiices (1818): f'tryirs ct poesies noiiielirs (1S24): Les plcitrs (1833): Paiitres fleurs! (183!l) : Bouquets et priiTCS (1843) ; I'oixics de Veufance. She wrote also some inditTerent stories. Her jiopular song '"S'il avail su" is in most anthologies. For an elaborate study of her poems, consult Saiute-Beuve, youceaux liindis, vol. .ii. (Paris, 1869). DESCAMPS, dilkiix'. Jean B.vpti.ste (1711 — '.111. .V French author and painter, born at Dunkirk. He studied painting under Largilli^re, and afterwards founded an academy of painting, .-cilpture. and architecture in Kouen. in 1741. where he was professor for many years. There are pictures by him in the Rouen Museum and at the Ecole des Beaiix-Avts in Paris, llissubjects were usually peasant scenes, but he also painted a series of episodes from the life of Louis XV. Descamps is best remembered for his Vies des printres flamands. allcmniids et hollatidais (4 vols.. 17.j3-(i3l. a work formerly much esteemed, but not very critical. DESCANT, da'skuN' or DISCANT (OF. drs- cant. ML. discantiis, from (/is-, asunder, apart + canliis. song, singing). A tenn which in mediae- val times was applied to contrary motion in po- lyphony, MS distinguished from the parallel mo- tion of the parts of the so-called organum. In modem part-music, the highest part, the treble or soprano voice. DESCARTES, da'kiirt'. RENft: Lat. Renatis f 'AiiiK.su s I l.MMi-lO.iO) . One of the most dis- tinguished modern philosophers, sometimes called "the father of modern philosophy." He was born at La Have, in Touraine, and was sent at the age of eight years to the .Tcsuit College at La FliVhe, where he <non became distinguished fur his keenness of intellect, and made great and rapid progress in languages, mathematics, and astronomy. It was not long, however, before be became dissatisfied with the doctrines and method of scholasticism, and felt it impossible to acquiesce in what had hitherto been regarded as knowledge. The first thing that he did after leaving college was to abandon books and en- deavor to efTaee from his niinil all that he had hitherto been taught, that it might be freb to rii'cive the impressions of truth, whencesoever they should come. In pursimnce of his plan he resolveil to travel, and soon entered the army ns n volunteer, serving siicces^jvi'ly under Maurice of Nassau, son of William of Oranu'c, and under Tilly and IJuguoy, However, the life of a soldier contributed little to his main object, and he quitted the army in 11521. After making journeys in diirerent directions, he at last re- tired in lt>29 to Holland, where he prepared moat of his works, attracted many disciples, ami at the same time bei'aine involved in several learned controversies, especially with the theologians. Although he loved independence, yet in Uit'.l he accepted an invitation addressed to him by t^ueen Christina to go to Sweden. His willingness to leave Ilollanil was partly occasioned by lii- anxiety to escape from the hostility of his en. mies. He died only a few months after his ar- rival at the Court of IJucen Christina. Sixteen years later his body was brought to Paris and buried in the Church of Saint Genevitvedu- ilont. The grand object toward which Descartes di- rected his endeavors was the attainment of a firm jihilosophical conviction. The way wlicreby he sought to attain this end is explained in the (liscoiiise on method {Diseours de In milhodr), published in 1037. This small but extremely in- teresting and important treatise contains a his- tory of the inner life of the author, tracing the progress of his mental development from it-< eomniencement in early years to the point whiir it resulted in his re-solution to ludd nothing for true until he had ascertained the grounds of certitude. The author in the same treatise al^^o explain* the jiractical rules whereby he resohc ! to be guided while in this state of suspended li. lief, and by the observance of which he hoped to arrive at absolute certainty, if indeed it were at all attainable. The result of his inquiries, so conducted, he exhibited more particularly in his Mediliitiones de Prima I'liilosophia (lli41) and the Principia Philosoplii<r (11)44), He begin? philosophy anew with a resolve to doubt every- thing; for might not our beliefs be the result of the mischievous working of some evil ilcmonT One fact he found indubitable — his doubting and his thinking. Hut in order to think he must exist : hence, in the fundamental fact of psychic experience he believed that he came into know- ing contact with ultimate reality — a jiroccss of reasoning which .ugustine had followed before him. In other words, he could not doubt tli;if he felt and thought, ;iiid therefore he could ii ' doulit that he. the feeler, the thinker, existi i This relation between consciousness and existeiii .• he expressed by the memorable words, Coi/i . erfio sum ("I think, therefore I exist"). Ij" • examining the criterion for the certitude of tin- knowledge, he found it in the clearness and dis- tinctness of his tlioiight about liimself. Hence he argued that whatever is as clearly and dis- tinctly tluaiglit as self-consciousness must be true. Among these clear and ilistinct thoughis he first recognized the idea of God as the ab- liitely [lerfect being. This idea, he reasimol. couhl not be formed in our minds by ourselves, for the imperfect can never originate the per- fect; it must be innate — i.e. part of the original structure of our umlcrstanding, and implanteil there by the perfect being himself. Hence, from the existence of the idea of perfection. Descartes inferred the existem-e of (Jod as the originator of it ; he inferred it also from the mere nature of the iilea, because the idea of perfection involves existence — a form of the so-called 'ontologicnl argument.' Hut if Goil exist, then we have a
