OF BODIES. Chap.XXXIl. 343 



Ja/tJy 3 the reives arefubjecl: to be at every turne contracted $nd 

 d'i'ated, upon their cwne account, without any relation to the 

 flroakes beating upon them frcni an externe agent : which is by 

 no meanes, a convenient difpofition /or a body,that is to be the 

 porter of any fimple motion^which /Lould alwayes Jie watching 

 in great quietncfie^ to obfcrve fcrupulcufly, and exactly the err 

 randhee is to carry : fb that for my part, I cannot conceive., na- 

 ture intended any fuch eflfe6t,by mediation of the finews. 



But Mounfieur des Cartes endeavourcth to confirme his 8. 

 opinion, by what ufeth to fall cut in palfies, when a man Jofeth That the f^m- 

 the ftrength ofmoving his hands,or other members^and never- ptomes of the 

 thelefle retaineth his feeling : which he imputeth to the remain- P a ^ ie(i oeno 

 ing intire of the firings of the nerves, whiles the fpirits are fome MounficurdS 

 way defective. To this we may anfwer,by producing examples cartes his 

 of the contrary in fbme men, who have had the motion of their opinion, 

 limbesinrireandnowayesprejudicedjbuthavehad no feeling 

 at all, quite over their \vholecafeofskinneandfleili : as parti- 

 cularly a fervant in the Colledge of Phyfuians in London, 

 whom the learned Harvey ( one of his Matters ) hath told me, 

 was exceeding ftrong to labour, and very able to carry any ne- 

 Ceflary burthen , and to remove things dexteroufly , according 

 to theoccafion : and yet he was fo voyde of feeling, that he ufed 

 to grind his hands againft the walls, and againiicourfe lumber, 

 when he was employed to rummage any; in fo much, that they 

 would runne with blood ^ through grating of the skirme, with- 

 out his feeling of what occafioned it. 



In our way_,the reafon ^ fboth thefe conditions ofpeop'e/the 

 paralytike^ndtheinfenfible) is eafy to be rendred : for they 

 proceed out of the divers diipofition of the animal fpinrs in 

 thefe parts : which if they thicken too much , and become very 

 grofle, they are not capable of tranfmitting the fcibtile meflen- 

 gers of the outwarfl world , unto the tribunall of the braine, to 

 judge of them . Qn the other fide, if they be too fubtile t the^ 

 neither have, nor give power to fwell the skin , and fb to draw 

 the muskks to their heads. And furely Motmfienr dcs Chartes 

 taketh the wrong way , in the reafon hegiveth of the Palfierfbr 

 icproceedeth out of abundance of humours j which clogging the 

 nervesj^endreth them wamy, and maketh them lofe their dry- 

 , and become iither,and conJeqaent ly, unfit and unable, in 



his . 



