444 THE ANIMAL FUNCTIONS. [ch. v. 



or tlie understanding, or the memory, which does not retain the 

 old idea of the kinsfolk to be compared with the new perception. 

 The organ of the understanding seems to have been especially 

 affected in the patient of Wepfer, ^ who mistook a piece of paper 

 for a handkerchief, and the handle of the spoon for the bowl. The 

 organ of memory is not unfrequently so disordered by disease 

 that individuals lose the recollection of their past life, and forget 

 acquired knowledge; of this, the illustrious Linnaeus lately 

 afforded an example. Not unfrequently, all the organs of the 

 animal functions are so affected that none of them can be 

 exercised, and for the time at least consciousness is entirely 

 abolished, as is seen not only in persons affected with apo- 

 plexy, earns, fainting, and epilepsy (during the paroxysm), but 

 also in profound sleep in which all the animal functions enjoy 

 a full holiday, since the brain requires rest for itself after 

 having been wearied with the exercise of thought throughout 

 the day. Nay, frequent use has no slight effect in changing 

 and perfecting the animal functions. By use alone the per- 

 ception becomes more acute, for the musician perceives the 

 least discord, and is annoyed by that which a person, not a 

 musician, never notices ; use renders the memory more tena- 

 cious, the judgment more acute, the will more prompt; all 

 which may also be observed in musicians, who acquire so much 

 readiness and facility by practice, that they perceive the notes, 

 judge what time and tone they denote, will, and apply the 

 fingers in fulfilment of the volition, almost at the same moment. 

 From all these things it evidently follows, that thought 

 cannot depend solely and entirely upon the mind, nor is the 

 whole essence of the soul exempted from thought ; otherwise 

 we must conclude that a soul of an inferior nature is given to 

 dull persons, and of a superior to the intelligent ; that it can 

 increase with age, be perfected by exercise, become sick, and be 

 deprived of one faculty or another, — as memory, for example, 

 and consequently, that the substance is material, and may be 

 increased or diminished. But these changes and defects may 

 be attributed to the brain, when in a state more or less im- 

 perfect, as being the instrument of the soul, and necessary to 

 thought, so long as the soul is connected with the body; if it 



' Hist., 98. 



