x] of the Nervous System. 267 



11 little to determine it to incline or to lean now on this side, 

 " now on that, and to bring it about that in leaning it disposes 

 "the spirits which issue from it to direct themselves towards 

 * certain parts of the brain rather than towards others." The 

 rush of spirits determined by the action of the impression of an 

 external object makes the pineal gland lean on one side, the 

 result of which is that, the disposition of its pores being changed, 

 these on the one hand permit a freer outflow of certain spirits 

 " so that . the idea which these spirits form becomes more 

 "perfect," and on the other hand hinder the issue of other 

 spirits, moved by some other object "so that you see, how 

 " one idea prevents another being received." 



In anticipation as it were he rejects beforehand the views 

 which were later on brought forward by Stahl. Putting aside 

 the direct actions of the rational soul, all other vital phenomena 

 are the results of pure machinery ; he admits no necessity to call 

 in the aid of spiritual agencies to explain these ; they are to be 

 explained like all other physical phenomena of the universe, by 

 the aid of the new mechanical philosophy. 



This is what he says : 



"All the functions of the body follow naturally from the 

 " sole disposition of its organs just in the same way that the 

 " movements of a clock or other self-acting machine, or auto- 

 " maton follow from the arrangement of its weights and wheels. 

 " So that there is no reason on account of its functions to 

 " conceive that there exists in the body any soul whether 

 " vegetative or sensitive, or any principle of movement other 

 " than the blood and its animal spirits agitated by the heat 

 "of the fire which burns continually in the heart and which 

 " does not differ in nature from any of the other fires which 

 " are met with in inanimate bodies." 



The prerogative of the rational soul is thought ; the soul 

 understands, wishes, imagines, remembers and feels, for all these 

 are modes of thought ; everything else is the work of the bodily 

 machine, sometimes actuated by the soul but sometimes not ; and 

 the soul always acts through the machine. "The soul can call 

 " forth no movement in the body unless all the corporeal organs 

 " needed for the movement are properly disposed. On the other 



