98 



ing. The sense of feeling has no likeness to that of 

 taste. These are different modifications of the soul, 

 which correspond to different qualities of the objects. 



But how can the nerves, which do not seem suscepti- 

 ble of a greater or less degree of bulk, length, compo- 

 sition, or tension, or of quicker or slower vibrations, oc- 

 casion in the soul such a prodigious variety of percep- 

 tions as we experience ? Is there such a relation between 

 the soul and the machine to which it is united, as for 

 certain perceptions to correspond continually with the 

 nerves of a determinate size, sructure, and tension ? Are 

 there nerves appropriated to different corpuscles, to the 

 impression whereof various perceptions are attached ? 

 Are the pyramidial form of the papilla of the taste and 

 feeling, the winding cavities of the ear, the different 

 refrangibilities of the rays of light, so many proofs of the 

 truth of this? Be that as it may, we are sufficiently con- 

 vinced that the same sensible fibre is not liable at 

 one, and the same time to a multitude of different im- 

 pressions. But this fibre is not only destined to 

 transmit to the soul the impression of the object; it 

 must also preserve the remembrance of it ; for a thou- 

 sand instances prove that the memory is connected with 

 the bram : how then can it be imagined that the same 

 fibre should at once retain a multitude of different de- 

 terminations 9 Nay, how can two such different sub- 

 stances as the soul and body act reciprocally on each 

 other ? At this question let us humbly cast our eyes 

 downwards, and acknowledge this is one of the great 

 mysteries of the creation, which we are not permitted to 

 be acquainted with. The various attempts that have 

 been made by the most profound philosophers, to ex- 

 plain it, are so many monuments raised to convince us 

 both of the extent and weakness of the human mind. 



2. The soul, being modified by impressions more or 

 less strong, re-acts in her turn on the nervous system, 

 maintains the motions there, and renders them more 

 active or durable. From thence arise the passions, 

 those secret inclinations, those restless appetites, which 

 destroy the equilibrium of the soul, and impel her to- 



