erstand it. As to its flow it was very soft: I had never before
perceived any softer; it was like a very gentle breeze. It breathed
first upon the left temple, and upon the upper part of the left ear;
the breathing proceeded thence to the left eye, and by degrees to the
right, and flowed down afterwards, especially from the left eye,
to the lips; and when at the lips it entered through the mouth, and
through a way within the mouth, and, indeed, through the Eustachian
tube, into the brain. When the breathing arrived there, I understood
their speech, and was enabled to speak with them. When they spoke with
me, I observed that my lips were moved, and my tongue also slightly,
which was owing to the correspondence of interior with exterior
speech. Exterior speech is that of articulate sound which impinges
upon the external membrane of the ear, and it is conveyed from thence,
by means of the small organs, membranes, and fibres, which are within
the ear, to the brain. From these facts it was given me to know that
the speech of the inhabitants of Mars was different from that of
the inhabitants of our Earth, in that it is not sonorous, but almost
tacit, insinuating itself into the interior hearing and sight by a
shorter way; and that, being such, it was more perfect, and fuller of
the ideas of thought, thus approaching nearer to the speech of spirits
and angels. Among them the very affection of the speech is also
represented in the face, and its thought in the eyes; for with them
thought and speech, and affection and the face, act in unity. They
account it infamous to think one thing and speak another, and to will
one thing and show another in the face. They know not what hypocrisy
is, nor fraudulent simulation and deceit. The same kind of speech
prevailed amongst the Most Ancient inhabitants of our Earth, as it has
been given me to learn by conversation with some of them in the other
life; and to elucidate this subject I may relate what I have heard
respecting it, as follows: "It was shown me by an influx which I
cannot describe, what was the character of the speech which prevailed
amongst those who were of the Most Ancient Church[gg]. It was not
articulate, like the vocal speech of our time, but tacit, being
effected, not by external, but by internal respiration, consequently
it was a cogitative speech. It was given me also to apperceive the
character of their internal respiration. It proceeded from the navel
towards the heart,