text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"This Contradiction in the Frame of Man is the Reason that the Theory of Virtue is so well understood, and the Practice of it so rarely to be met with. If you ask me where to look for those beautiful shining Qualities of Prime Ministers, and the great Favourites of Princes that are so finely painted in Dedications, Addresses, Epitaphs, Funeral Sermons and Inscriptions, I answer There, and no where else. Where would you look for the Excellency of a Statue, but in that Part which you see of it? 'Tis the Polish'd Outside only that has the Skill and Labour of the Sculptor to boast of; what's out of sight is untouch'd. Would you break the Head or cut open the Breast to look for the Brains or the Heart, you'd only shew your Ignorance, and destroy the Workmanship. This has often made me compare the Virtues of great Men to your large China Jars: they make a fine Shew, and are Ornamental even to a Chimney; one would by the Bulk they appear in, and the Value that is set upon 'em, think they might be very useful, but look into a thousand of them, and you'll find nothing in them but Dust and Cobwebs.
(168)",2011-11-24 19:21:40 UTC,"""This has often made me compare the Virtues of great Men to your large China Jars: they make a fine Shew, and are Ornamental even to a Chimney; one would by the Bulk they appear in, and the Value that is set upon 'em, think they might be very useful, but look into a thousand of them, and you'll find nothing in them but Dust and Cobwebs.""",2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,Remark O.,Inner and Outer,2011-11-24,"","","",10899,4200
"That Resolution depends upon this Tone of the Spirits, appears likewise from the effects of strong Liquors, the fiery Particles whereof crowding into the Brain, strengthen the Spirits; their Operation imitates that of Anger, which I said before was an Ebullition of the Spirits. It is for this reason that most People when they are in Drink, are sooner touch'd and more prone to Anger than at other times, and some raving Mad without any Provocation at all. It is likewise observ'd, that Brandy makes Men more Quarrelsome at the same pitch of Drunkenness than Wine; because the Spirits of distill'd Waters have abundance of fiery Particles mixt with them, which the other has not. The Contexture of Spirits is so weak in some, that tho' they have Pride enough, no Art can ever make them fight, or overcome their Fears; but this is a Defect in the Principle of the Fluids, as other Deformities are faults of the Solids.1' These pusillanimous People are never thoroughly provok'd to Anger, where there is any Danger, and drinking ever makes 'em bolder, but seldom so resolute as to attack any, unless they be Women or Children, or such who they know dare not resist. This Constitution is often influenced by Health and Sickness, and impair'd by great Losses of Blood; sometimes it is corrected by Diet; and it is this which the Duke de la Rochefocault means when he says; Vanity, Shame, and above all Consti-tution, make up very often the Courage of Men and Virtue of Women.
(212)",2011-04-26 17:37:04 UTC,"""That Resolution depends upon this Tone of the Spirits, appears likewise from the effects of strong Liquors, the fiery Particles whereof crowding into the Brain, strengthen the Spirits; their Operation imitates that of Anger, which I said before was an Ebullition of the Spirits.""",2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,Remark O.,"",2011-04-26,"",•La R. reference is to Maxim 220 in Oeuvres.
,Reading,10901,4200
"CLEO.
There is a double Meaning in the Word, knowing, which you seem not to attend to. There is a great Difference between knowing a Violin when you see it, and knowing how to play upon it. The Knowledge I speak of is of the first sort; and if you consider it in that Sense, you must be of my Opinion; for no Study can fetch any thing out of the Brain that is not there. Suppose you conceive a short Epistle in three Minutes, which another, who can make Letters and join them together as fast as your self, is yet an Hour about, tho' both of you write the same thing: it is plain to me, that the slow Person knows as much as you do; at least it does not appear that he knows less: he has receiv'd the same Images, but he cannot come at them, or at least not dispose them in that order, so soon as yourself. When we see two Exercises of equal Goodness, either in prose or verse; if the one is made ex tempore, and we are sure of it, and the other has cost two Days Labour, the Author of the first is a Person of finer natural Parts than the other, tho' their Knowledge, for ought we know, is the same: you see then the Difference between Knowledge, as it signifies the Treasure of Images receiv'd, and Knowledge, or rather Skill, to find out those Images when we want them, and work them readily to our Purpose.",2013-06-11 18:10:18 UTC,"""[Y]ou see then the Difference between Knowledge, as it signifies the Treasure of Images receiv'd, and Knowledge, or rather Skill, to find out those Images when we want them, and work them readily to our Purpose""",2005-08-23 00:00:00 UTC,Fourth Dialogue,"",,"","",OLL,11802,4493
"CLEO.
So it may be in part: but there are Men of prodigious Reading, that have likewise great Memories, who judge ill, and seldom say any thing a propos, or say it when it is too late. Among the helluones librorum, the Cormorants of Books, there are wretched Reasoners, that have canine Appetites, and no Digestion. What Numbers of learned Fools do we not meet with in large Libraries; from whose Works it is evident, that Knowledge must have lain in their Heads, as Furniture at an Upholder's; and the Treasure of the Brain was a Burden to them, instead of an Ornament! All this proceeds from a Defect in the Faculty of Thinking; an Unskilfulness, and want of Aptitude in managing, to the best Advantage, the Idea's we have receiv'd. We see others, on the contrary, that have very fine Sense, and no Litterature at all. The generality of Women are quicker of Invention, and more ready at Repartee, than the Men, with equal Helps of Education; and it is surprizing to see, what a considerable Figure some of them make in Conversation, when we consider the small Opportunities they have had of acquiring Knowledge.",2012-04-10 21:26:43 UTC,"""What Numbers of learned Fools do we not meet with in large Libraries; from whose Works it is evident, that Knowledge must have lain in their Heads, as Furniture at an Upholder's; and the Treasure of the Brain was a Burden to them, instead of an Ornament!""",2005-08-23 00:00:00 UTC,Fourth Dialogue,"",2012-04-10,Rooms,"•I've included thrice: Furniture, Treasure, Ornament",OLL,11804,4493
"HOR.
I plainly feel that this Operation of Thinking is a Labour, or at least something that is transacting, in my Head, and not in my Leg nor my Arm: What Insight or real Knowledge have we from Anatomy Concerning it?
Cleo.
None at all à priori: The most consummate Anatomist knows no more of it than a Butcher's Prentice. We may admire the curious Duplicate of Coats,1 and close Embroidery of Veins and Arteries that environ the Brain: But when dissecting it we have viewed the several Pairs of Nerves with their Origin, and taken Notice of some Glands of various Shapes and Sizes, which differing from the Brain in Substance, could not but rush in View; when these, I say, have been taken Notice of, and distinguish'd by different Names, some of them not very pertinent, and less polite, the best Naturalist must acknowledge, that even of these large visible Parts there are but few, the Nerves and Blood-Vessels excepted, at the Use of which he can give any tollerable Guesses: But as to the mysterious Structure of the Brain itself, and the more abstruse Oeconomy of it, that he knows nothing; but that the whole seems to be a medullary Substance, compactly treasur'd up in infinite Millions of imperceptible Cells, that dispos'd in an unconceivable Order, are cluster'd together in a perplexing Variety of Folds and Windings. He'll add, perhaps, that it is reasonable to think, this to be the capacious Exchequer of human Knowledge, in which the faithful Senses deposite the vast Treasure of Images, constantly, as through their Organs they receive them: That it is the Office in which the Spirits are separated from the Blood, and afterwards sublim'd and volatiliz'd into Particles hardly corporeal; and that the most minute of these are always, either searching for, or variously disposing the Images retain'd, and shooting through the infinite Meanders of that wonderful Substance, employ themselves, without ceasing, in that inexplicable Performance, the Contemplation of which fills the most exalted Genius with Amazement.
(pp. 178-9, pp. 165-6 in OUP ed.)",2014-04-16 19:42:56 UTC,"""But as to the mysterious Structure of the Brain itself, and the more abstruse Oeconomy of it, that he knows nothing; but that the whole seems to be a medullary Substance, compactly treasur'd up in infinite Millions of imperceptible Cells, that dispos'd in an unconceivable Order, are cluster'd together in a perplexing Variety of Folds and Windings. He'll add, perhaps, that it is reasonable to think, this to be the capacious Exchequer of human Knowledge, in which the faithful Senses deposite the vast Treasure of Images, constantly, as through their Organs they receive them""",2005-08-23 00:00:00 UTC,Fourth Dialogue,"",,Coinage,"•Note, I've circled back. This entry precedes the previous entries in the actual text.
&bull:INTEREST. USE IN ENTRY?
Was paginated pp. 133-4. Was that a mistake? -- AER identified issue in the MS",OLL,11812,4493
"Misom
Then you would have this variously disposing of the Images to be the work of the Spirits, that act under the Soul, as so many Labourers under some great Architect.
Phil.
I would so: And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking, in quest of the Images we want, and when we have forgot a Word or Sentence, which yet we are sure the great Treasury of Images received our Memory has once been charged with, we may almost feel how some of the Spirits flying through all the Mazes and Meanders rommage the whole substance of the Brain; whilst others ferret themselves into the inmost recesses of it with so much eagerness and labour, that the difficulty they meet with some times makes us uneasie, and they often bewilder themselves in their search, till at last they light by chance on the Image that contains what they look'd for, or else dragging it, as it were, by piece-meals from the dark Caverns of oblivion, represent what they can find of it to our Imagination.
(pp. 130-1)",2020-07-14 18:00:25 UTC,"""And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking, in quest of the Images we want, and when we have forgot a Word or Sentence, which yet we are sure the great Treasury of Images received our Memory has once been charged with, we may almost feel how some of the Spirits flying through all the Mazes and Meanders rommage the whole substance of the Brain; whilst others ferret themselves into the inmost recesses of it with so much eagerness and labour, that the difficulty they meet with some times makes us uneasie, and they often bewilder themselves in their search, till at last they light by chance on the Image that contains what they look'd for, or else dragging it, as it were, by piece-meals from the dark Caverns of oblivion, represent what they can find of it to our Imagination.""",2012-04-10 20:59:47 UTC,"",Animal Spirits,,Inhabitants,RICH PASSAGE. INTEREST. REVISIT.,"Reading. Encountered again in Jayne Lewis's ""Dialectic of Bewilderment,"" Eighteenth-Century Fiction 31, no. 3 (Spring 2019): 575–595, 575.",19677,4155
"Phil.
I have asserted already, that the Soul consists in thinking, of which matter is incapable, and do not say the Spirits that think, but the Spirits, that are employ'd in the act of thinking: We must consider the Soul as the Skill of an Artificer, whilst the Organs of the Body are her Tools; for as the Body and its most minute Spirits are wholly insignificant, and cannot perform that Operation which we call thinking without the Soul more than the Tools of an Artificer, can do anything without his Skill, so the Soul cannot exert her self without the assistance of the Organick Body more than Artificers Skill can be put in execution without the Tools.
(pp. 128-9)",2012-04-10 21:00:41 UTC,"""We must consider the Soul as the Skill of an Artificer, whilst the Organs of the Body are her Tools; for as the Body and its most minute Spirits are wholly insignificant, and cannot perform that Operation which we call thinking without the Soul more than the Tools of an Artificer, can do anything without his Skill, so the Soul cannot exert her self without the assistance of the Organick Body more than Artificers Skill can be put in execution without the Tools.""",2012-04-10 21:00:41 UTC,"","",,"","",Reading,19678,4155
"We need only have eyes to see the necessary influence which age has over reason. The soul follows the progress of the body, as well as of education. In the fair sex, the soul adapts itself to the delicacy of constitution: thence flow that tenderness, that affection, those lively sentiments founded rather upon passion than reason; and in fine, those prejudices and superstitions whose impression is so hard to be effaced. Man, on the contrary, whose brain and nerves participate in the firmness of all the solids, has his mind, as well as the features of his face, more nervous. [...]
(p. 14)",2013-07-16 19:19:12 UTC,"""In the fair sex, the soul adapts itself to the delicacy of constitution: thence flow that tenderness, that affection, those lively sentiments founded rather upon passion than reason; and in fine, those prejudices and superstitions whose impression is so hard to be effaced.""",2013-07-16 19:19:12 UTC,"","",,"","",Reading,21807,7547
"In general, the form and composition of the brains of quadropeds are very near the same with those of man. There is the same figure, the same composition throughout: with this essential difference, that man of all animals has the most brains, and fullest windings and folds in proportion to the bulk of his body; next to him are the ape, the beaver, the elephant, the dog, the fox, the Cat, &c.
These are the animals, that resemble man the most; for we observe likewise amongst them the same gradual analogy, in relation to the callous body, in which Lancisi had placed the seat of the Soul, before the late Monsieur de la Peyronnie, who has illustrated this opinion with a variety of experiments.
(p. 17)",2013-07-16 19:21:04 UTC,"""These are the animals, that resemble man the most; for we observe likewise amongst them the same gradual analogy, in relation to the callous body, in which Lancisi had placed the seat of the Soul, before the late Monsieur de la Peyronnie, who has illustrated this opinion with a variety of experiments.""",2013-07-16 19:21:04 UTC,"","",,Throne,"","",21810,7547
"All this knowledge therefore, the vanity of which puffs up the giddy brain of our supercilious pedants, is nothing but a vast heap of words and figures, which form in the head the traces by which we distinguish and remember objects. All our ideas are revived, as a gardener that knows the plant, remembers their names as soon as he sees them. These words and figures are so connected in the brain, that we rarely happen to imagine a thing without the name, or the sign thereto annexed.
(pp. 27-8)",2013-07-16 19:26:44 UTC,"""All this knowledge therefore, the vanity of which puffs up the giddy brain of our supercilious pedants, is nothing but a vast heap of words and figures, which form in the head the traces by which we distinguish and remember objects.""",2013-07-16 19:26:44 UTC,"","",,"","This is better in the French: ""balloon-brains in the French. REVISIT?
","",21815,7547