Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/755

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

sou

C 99 ]

SOU

fluences, and acts on every Part of the Body, though it has its principal Refidence in fome particular Part, call'd the Senjory. See Sensory,

This principal Part, Hes Carta maintains, is the Pineal Gland of the Brain, where all the Nerves terminate, $J?c. See Pineal Gland.

Sorry, a Northern Phyfician, in a Letter to Bartholin, afferts, That in the Brain is found a certain, very Subtile, fragrant Juice, which is the principal Seat or Refidence of the reasonable Soul ; and adds, That the Subtilty and Finenels of the Soul, depends on the Temperament of this Liquor, rather than on the Structure of the Brain, to which 'tis ufually aicribed. This Liquor, we conceive, muft be the lame with what we ufually call the Nervous Juice, ox Animal Spirits. The Constitution whereof, is, doubrleis, of great Importance, with regard to the Faculties of the Soul. See Spirit.

Mr. Lock distinguishes Two principal Faculties for Powers of the rational or hitman Soul, viz. 'Perception and Willing. See Power.

To thefe, other Philofophers add others ; as Sensation, Liberty, Memory, Imagination and Habit. See Under- standing, Will, Sensation, Liberty, cifc.

The Myftic Divines diftinguilh Two ptincipal Parts in the Soul : The Upper-part, which comprehends the Under- standing and the Will ; and the inferior Tart, which com- prehends Imagination and Senfation. Thus, fay they, Jefus Chrijl was happy on the Crofs in his tipper Part, and iuffered in his lower Tart. The lower Part did not com- municate to the Upper, either its Troubles or its Failings ; nor the Upper to the Lower, its Peace or Beatitude. From this Diftinclion, the Quietifls take in hand to maintain, That whatever pafles contrary to good Morals, in the lower Pat t of the Soul, is not contrary to the Purity of the upper Part, inafmuch as the Will has no Share therein.

As to the Soul of Brutes, the Cartejians, and lome others, deny its Exiftence, in the common Senfe of the Word Soul ; that is, they llrip off all the Properties or Faculties of the Human Soul : And the Teripateticks, on the contrary, inveft it with the greateft Part of them.

In Man, a particular Agitation of the Fibres of the Brain is accompanied with a Seniation of Heat ; and a certain Flux of animal Spirits towards the Heatt, and Vifcera, is followed by Love or Hatred.

Now the Peripateticks maintain, That the Brutes feel the iame Heat and the lame Pafiions, on the fame Occafions : That they have the fame Averfion for what incommodes them, and, in the general, are capable of all the Pafiions, and all the Senfations we feel.

The Cartejians deny they have any Perceptions or Notices at all ; that they feel any Pain or Pleafure ; or love or hate any thing. The Ground of their Opinion is, Thar they allow of nothing in Brutes, but what is material, and that they deny Senfations and Pafiions, to be any Properties of Matter. Some of the Peripateticks, on the other hand, maintain Matter, when fubtilized, framed, ranged and moved in a certain Manner, to be capable of Senfation and Paflion ; that Beads may feel and perceive, by means of the animal Spirits, which are a Matter thus modified ; and that the human Soul itfelf, only becomes capable of Senfation and Paflion, by means thereof.

But we muft own it very difficult, to reconcile the Idea we have of Matter, with that we have of Thoughts to con " ceive that Matter figured in any manner, whether in a Square, a Sphere, or an Oval, mould be Pleaiiire, Pain, Heat, Colour or Smell; to conceive that Matter, however, agitated, whe- ther in a Circle, a Spiral, Parabola or Ellipfis, fhould be Love, Hatred or Joy.

The Mainrainers of the contrary Opinion, urge that Appeatance of Senfe, of Fear, Caution, Love for their Young, infinite Sagacity, both for their own Prefervation and that of their Species, vilible through the whole Brute Creation. And 'tis true, all the Actions of Beafts plainly exprefs an Understanding ; for every thing that is regular, expreffes it ; even a Machine or Watch expreffes it : and a Plant much more ; the Radicle of the Seed turning downwards, and the Stem upwards, whatever Situation the Seed is fown in : the young Plants knitting from Space to Space, to Strengthen it; its putting forth Prickles, £$c. to defend it, £$c. mark a great Underftanding. All the Motions of Plants and Brutes plainly difcover an Intelligence ; but the Intelligence does not refide in the Matter theteof: 'Tis as diftinct from the Beaft or Plant, as is that which ranged the Wheels of the Watch, is diftinct from the Watch itfelf.

For, in effect, this Intelligence appears infinitely Grear, infinitely Wife, infinitely Powerful; and the fame which form'd us in our Mother's Womb, which gives our Growth, SSfc.

Thus, in Brutes, there is not either Underftanding or Soul, in the Senfe we generally ufe the Word : They eat without Pleafure, cry without Pain, grow without knowing lc - They fear nothing ; know nothing ; and if they act. in fuch manner, as fhews Underftanding ; 'tis becaufe God

having made them, to preferve them, has formed their Bodies, fo as to avoid whatever might hutt them, median, nically.

Otherwife, it might be faid, That thete is more Under- ftanding in the vilelt Infect, nay, in the fmalleft Grain, than in the moll knowing of Men ; for 'tis evident, either of them contains more Parts, and produces more regular Motions and Actions, than we are capable of underftanding. Thus does the great F. Mallebranch, argue againft the Souls of Brutes Recherche de la Verite^ liv. 6.

SOUL'S Cheat, a Legacy anciently bequeathed at their Deaths, by our icrupulouily pious Anceftors, to the Parifh Prieft, to compenfate for any Tythes that might have been forgot in their Lives. See Tythe.

SOUND, a Perception of the Soul, communicated by means of the Ear ; or, the EfFeS of a Collision of Bodies, and a tremulous Motion confequent therein, communicated' thence to the circumambient Fluid, and propagated through it to the Organs of Heating. See Ear and Hearing.

To llluftrate the Caufe of Sound; we obferve; firft, That a Motion is neceffaty in the lonoious Body, for the Pro- duction of Sound. Secondly, That this Mot'ion exifls, firftj in the fmall and infenfible Parts of the fonorous Bodies, and is excited in them by their mutual Collifion, and fercuflion againft each other, which produces that tremulous Motion, fo obfervable in Bodies, that have a clear Sound, as Bells, mufical Chords, ££c. Thirdly, That this Motion is com- municated to, or produces a like Motion in the Air, or fuch Parts of it, as are apt to receive and propagate it ; inafmuch as no Motion of Bodies, at a Diftance, can affect our Senles without the Mediation of other Bodies, which teccive thofe Motions from the Body, and communicate them immediately to the Organ. Laftly, That this Motion muft be commu- nicated to thofe Parts, that are the proper and immediate Instruments of Hearing.

Further, That Motion of a fonorous Body, which is the immediate Caufe of Sound, may be owing to two different Caufes ; either the Petcuflion between it and other hard Bodies, as in Drums, Bells, Chords, igc. or the beating and dafhing of the fonorous Body and the Air, immediately againft each other, as in Wind Inftruments, as Flutes, Trumpets, t$c.

But in both Cafes, the Motion, which is the Confequence of the mutual Action, and the Immediate of the fonorous Motion which the Air conveys to the Ear ; is an invifible, tremulous or undulating Motion in the imal! and infenfible Parts of rhe Body.

To explain this ; all fenfible Bodies are fuppofed to confift of a Number of Small and infenfible Parts or Corpufcles, which are of the fame Natute in all Bodies, perfectly hatd and incompressible. See Corpuscle.

Of thele, are compofed others, Somewhat greater, but SKI! infenfible ; and thefe different, according to the different Figures and Union of their component Parts. Thele, again, conftitute other Maffes bigger and more different than the former, and of the various Combinations of thefe laft are rhofe grofs Bodies compofed, that ate vifible, touchable,' £gc. The fitft and fmalleft Parts, we have obferved, are abfoiutely hard ; the others are compreflible, and united in fuch manner, rhat being comprefs'd by an external Impulfe, they have an elaftic or reftirutive Power, whereby they reilore themfelves to their natutal State. See Elasticity.

A Shock, then, being made by one Body upon another, the. fmall Particles, by their elaftic Principle, move to and again with a very grear Velocity, in a tremulous, undulating Manner, fomewhat like the vifible Motions of groffer Springs ; as we eafily obferve in the Chords of mufical Inftruments! And this is what we may call the Sonorous Motion, which is propagated to the Ear : But obferve, that 'tis the infenfible Motion of thofe Particles next the fmalleft, which is fuppoiird to be the immediate Caufe of Sound ; and of thefe, only thofe next the Surface, communicate with the Air : The Motion of the whole, or of the greater Parts, being no further concerned than as they contribute to the other.

To apply rhis Theory ; Strike a Bell with any hard Body, and you eafily perceive a fenfible Tremor in the Surface, fpreadingirfelf over the whole ; and that morefenfibly, as the Shock is greater. Upon touching it in any other Part, the Motion and the Sound too, are ftopp'd. Now this is apparently a Motion of the fmall and infenfible Parts, chan"in» their Situations, with refpect to one another, which being fo many, and in clofely united, we cannot perceive their Motions Se- parately and distinctly ; but only a Trembling, which we reckon to be the Effect of the Confufion of an infinite Num- ber of little Particles, clofely joyn'd, and only moving in infinitely little Lines.

Mr. Terrault adds, That this vifible Motion of the Parts, contributes no otherwife to Sound, than as it caufes the in- vifible Motion of the fmallet Parts, which he calls Tarticles, to diftinguilh them from the fenfible ones, which he calls Tarts, and from the fmalleft of all, which we call Corpufcles.

This