no BACON 



upon the body, has likewise been received into medicine; for 

 every prudent physician regards the accidents of the mind as a 

 principal thing in his cures, that greatly promote or hinder the 

 effects of all other remedies. But one particular has been 

 hitherto slightly touched, or not well examined, as its useful- 

 ness and abstruse nature require; viz., how far a fixed and 

 riveted imagination may alter the body of the imaginant ; for, 

 though this has a manifest power to hurt, it does not follow, 

 it has the same to relieve : no more than because an air may be 

 so pestilent as suddenly to destroy, another air should be so 

 wholesome as suddenly to recover. This would be an inquiry 

 of noble use ; but, as Socrates would say, it requires a Delian 

 diver, for it is deep plunged.^ 



But among these doctrines of union, or consent of soul and 

 body, there is none more necessary than an inquiry into the 

 proper seat and habitation of each faculty of the soul in the 

 body and its organs. Some, indeed, have prosecuted this sub- 

 ject ; but all usually delivered upon it is either controverted or 

 slightly examined, so as to require more pains and accuracy. 

 The opinion of Plato, which seats the understanding in the 

 brain, courage in the heart, and sensuality in the liver, should 

 neither be totally rejected nor fondly received.** 



CHAPTER II 



Division of the Knowledge of the Human Body into the Medicinal, 

 Cosmetic, Athletic, and the Voluptuary Arts. Division of Medicine 

 into Three Functions: viz., the Preservation of Health, the Cure of 

 Diseases, and the Prolongation of Life. The last distinct from the 

 two former 



The 'doctrine of the human body divides itself according to 

 the perfections of the body, whereto it is subservient. These 

 perfections are four: viz., ist, health; 2d, comeliness; 3d, 

 strength ; and, 4th, pleasure : to which correspond as relatives : 

 ist, the arts of medicine ; 2d, beautifying ; 3d, gymnastics ; and, 

 4th, the art of elegance, which Tacitus calls eruditum luxum.o 

 Medicine is a noble art, and honorably descended, according to 

 the poets, who make Apollo the primary god, and his son 

 ^Esculapius, whom they also deify, the first professor thereof: 

 for as, in natural things, the sun is the author and fountain of 



