ATREATISE 



corcur to this effect Whereof the braine being the principal!, 

 oratleaft, tlie tirtt and next of the principals ; we may take 

 notice that it containeth , towards the middle of its fubftance, 

 fourc concavities, as feme doe count then : but in truth J thefe 

 foure, are but one great concavity , in which foure, as it were, 

 divers roomef ,may be diftinguifhed. The neather pact o f theie 

 concavitiesjs very imeqtxaJU, having joyned unto it,a kind of net, 

 wrought by the entangling of certain little arteries^nd of {mail 

 emanations from a5Va/,which areinterwoven together.Befides 

 chis,it is full of kerncls,which do make it yet more uneven. 



Now,two rooms of this great concavity ,are divided by a little 

 body, fomwhat Hkea skin, (though more fryablc ) which of it 

 felfe is cleare ; but there it is fbmewhat dimmed, by rea/bn that 

 hanging a little flacke,it fbmewhat flirivekth together:and this, 

 AnatomiftsdocallJ/pfirw/WMiw*, orfptculum; and is aa in- 

 different body from all the reft that are in the braine.This tran- 

 fparent body hangeth as it were ftraightwards from the fore- 

 head towards the hinder part of the head : and dividcth the hoj- 

 lovr of the brain.ai far as it rcachcth,into the right and the left 

 ventricles. 



This part feemeth to me, (after weighing all circwnftanc** 

 and confideringall the conveniences, and fi tneffes ) to be that, 

 and onely that , in which the fanfie or common fenic rcfideth t 

 thoagh Monfieuc des Cartej hath rather chofen t kerneil to 

 place it in.The reaibns of my aflertions are ; firft.that it is in the 

 middle of the braine, which is the moft convenient fituatiom 

 to receive the meffages ftom all our body, that doe come by 

 nerves ,,{bme from beforehand fbme from behind. Secondly, that 

 with its twojfides., it lecmeth to be conveniently-oppoiecj to all 

 fuch ofour fenfes,as are double; the one of them fending itg lit. 

 tie mcl&ngers or atomes , to give it adyertilements on one 

 fide, the other on the other fide ; fo that it is capable of tccei. 

 ving impreflion indifterently from both. A gaine, by the nature 

 of the body, it feemeth more fit to receive ail diffcrencej of 

 motion,then any other body neer it. It is alfb moil conformable 

 to the nature of the eye; which being our principal outwar^ fenfe 

 rnuft needs be in the next degrc to that, which is clevarcd a /?rain 

 above our outward fen/es.Fiftly,h is ofa finele and peculiar na- 

 ture, whereas the kernels are many,and allot them of the fame 



con- 



