that, when they
are cut to pieces, each piece is capable of perfect or independent
growth or life. Their inferiority is likewise betrayed by their
belonging especially to the earth to which they are rooted, each root
being a true mouth; and this again displays their lowly position, for
the place of the mouth is ever an indication of the grade of a creature:
thus in man, who is at the head of the scale, it is in the upper part of
the body; that in proportion to the heat of an animal is its grade
higher; thus those that are aquatic are cold, and therefore of very
little intelligence, and the same maybe said of plants; but of man,
whose warmth is very great, the soul is much more excellent; that the
possession of locomotion by an organism always implies the possession of
sensation; that the senses of taste and touch indicate the qualities of
things in contact with the organs of the animal, but that those of
smell, hearing, and sight extend the sphere of its existence, and
indicate to it what is at a distance: that the place of reception of the
various sensations is the soul, from which issue forth the motions; that
the blood, as the general element of nutrition, is essential to the
support of the body, though insensible itself: it is also essential to
the activity of the soul; that the brain is not the recipient of
sensations: that function belongs to the heart; all the animal
activities are united in the last; it contains the principle of life,
being the principle of motion: it is the first part to be formed and the
last to die; that the brain is a mere appendix to the heart, since it is
formed after the heart, is the coldest of the organs and is devoid of
blood; that the soul is the reunion of all the functions of the body: it
is an energy or active essence; being neither body nor magnitude, it
cannot have extension, for thought has no parts, nor can it be said to
move in space; it is as a sailor, who is motionless in a ship which is
moving; that, in the origin of the organism, the male furnishes the soul
and the female the body; that the body being liable to decay, and of a
transitory nature, it is necessary for its well-being that its
disintegration and nutrition should balance one another; that sensation
may be compared to the impression of a seal on wax, the wax receiving
form only, but no substance or matter; that imagination arises from
impressions thus made, which endure for a length of time, and that this
is the