2 10 ANT I EN T METAPHYSICS. Book IV. 



a particular Scat, which is the Brain, in all Animals that have Brain ; 

 fo that the communication with that Seat being cut o(F, by the cut- 

 ting of the Nerves, which all proceed from the Brain, there is, as I 

 have faici, an end of the Senfitive Life in the Animal. 



Further, as the Senfitive Life is more excellent than the Vege- 

 tative, fo the latter, according to the order of Nature, is made fub- 

 fervient to the former. And this accounts for a remarkable differ- 

 ence betwixt the Vegetable, when it is by itfelf, as it is in the Plant, 

 and when it is joined with the Senfitive Life, as it is in the Animal : 

 For, in the Plant, the fap by which it is nourifhed only afcends and 

 defcends, but does not circulate as the blood does in Animals ; nor 

 has it one common Fountain or Rcfervoir, where it is thrown out, 

 and again taken in ; for that was not neceflary for the oeconomy of 

 the Plant : Whereas, for the fupport of the Body of the Animal, fo 

 much more artificially organized than the plant, and for enabling 

 the organs to perform their feveral functions, it was neceflary that 

 there fhould be a circulation of the Blood, a diftribution of it to 

 every part, and a fecretion from it of many different juices, of which 

 the Vegetable has no need. 



Another remarkable difference is, that, as the Animal is an e- 

 manclpated fon of the earth, (as he is called by fome philofopher, 

 whofe name I have forgot), and goes from place to place, he has 

 members adapted to that progreflive Motion, by which he moves not 

 only on the Earth, but in the Water and the Air. And he has alfo 

 a certain impulfe of his Mind, called in Greek '»fjwi, and, in Eng- 

 lifh, Spoilt aneiety^ by which he is excited to that Motion ; whereas 

 the Vegetable, being fixed to a certain place, has neither.. 



The laft obfervation I fhall make upon this fubjed: is, that, as 

 there is no gap in Nature, the Vegetable Life comes fo near to the 

 Animal, that there are Animals which partake fo much of the Vege- 

 table, 



