Dr, Barms en the Power y ^c. 467 



On the VOLUNTARY Power which the Mind is 

 able to exercije over bodily Sensation. By 

 Thomas Barnes, D.D. Read November 3, 

 1784. 



'T^HE mutual adion of the body and the 

 mind upon each other is felt every mo- 

 ment. The knowledge of the nature, efFeds, 

 fymptoms, and meafureS of thefe reciprocal in- 

 fluences, forms no inconfiderable part of the 

 fcience moft neceffary to the phyfician, the 

 moralift, and the divine. It enters deeply into 

 every ftudy, of which either body or mind is the 

 profeflTed fubjed. And whatever difficulties may 

 attend our inquiries, in the way of mere theory 

 and fpeculation— difficulties which arife from' 

 the narrow limits of the human faculties, and 

 from the abfurd attempt to inveflrigate the 

 ejfences, rather than the operatioris, of nature— ryer 

 we may acquire from experiments and facts 

 a knowledge, clear in its evidences, certain in its' 

 principles, and important in its application. 



The queftion which I have propofed to con- 

 fidcr, '' Whether the mind has any Jcind of vd-' 



H h 2 , luntary 



