368 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Query, if the contrary motion of the spirits, immedi 

 ately before the motion we intend, doth not cause 

 the spirits as it were to break forth with more force ? 

 as breath also, drawn and kept in, cometh forth more 

 forcibly: and in casting of anything, the arms, to 

 make a greater swing, are first cast backward. 



Experiment solitary touching the pleasures and displea 

 sures of the senses, especially of hearing. 



700. Of musical tones and unequal sounds we have 

 spoken before ; but touching the pleasure and dis 

 pleasure of the senses, not so fully. Harsh sounds, 

 as of a saw when it is sharpened ; grinding of one 

 stone against another ; squeaking or skreeching noise ; 

 make a shivering or horror in the body, and set the 

 teeth on edge. The cause is, for that the objects of 

 the ear do affect the spirits, immediately, most with 

 pleasure and offence. We see there is no colour that 

 affecteth the eye much with displeasure : there be 

 sights that are horrible, because they excite the 

 memory of things that are odious or fearful ; but the 

 same things painted do little affect. As for smells, 

 tastes, and touches, they be things that do affect by 

 a participation or impulsion of the body of the object. 

 So it is sound alone that doth immediately and incor- 

 poreally affect most ; this is most manifest in music, 

 and concords and discords in music ; for all sounds, 

 whether they be sharp or flat, if they be sweet, have 

 a roundness and equality ; and if they be harsh, are 

 unequal ; for a discord itself is but a harshness of 

 divers sounds meeting. It is true that inequality 



