"One Law of the Action of the Soul on the Body, & vice versa, seems to be, That upon such and such Motions produced in the Musical Instrument of the Body, such and such Sensations should arise in the Mind; and on such and such Actions of the Soul, such and such Motions in the Body should ensue; much like a Signal agreed to between two Generals, the one within, the other without a Citadel, which should signify to one another, what they have before agreed to, and established between them; or, like the Key of a Cypher, which readily explains the otherwise unintelligible Writing."
— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
George Strahan
Date
1724
Metaphor
"One Law of the Action of the Soul on the Body, & vice versa, seems to be, That upon such and such Motions produced in the Musical Instrument of the Body, such and such Sensations should arise in the Mind; and on such and such Actions of the Soul, such and such Motions in the Body should ensue; much like a Signal agreed to between two Generals, the one within, the other without a Citadel, which should signify to one another, what they have before agreed to, and established between them; or, like the Key of a Cypher, which readily explains the otherwise unintelligible Writing."
Metaphor in Context
Scholium. These Laws of the Actions of the Soul on the Body, and of the Body on the Soul, are never to be known to us, but by their Effects; as the Laws of Nature in the Actions of Bodies upon one another, were first discovered by Experiment, and afterward reduced into general Propositions. One Law of the Action of the Soul on the Body, & vice versa, seems to be, That upon such and such Motions produced in the Musical Instrument of the Body, such and such Sensations should arise in the Mind; and on such and such Actions of the Soul, such and such Motions in the Body should ensue; much like a Signal agreed to between two Generals, the one within, the other without a Citadel, which should signify to one another, what they have before agreed to, and established between them; or, like the Key of a Cypher, which readily explains the otherwise unintelligible Writing. Besides these Passions and Affections, which are involuntary.
(VI, pp. 146-7)
(VI, pp. 146-7)
Categories
Provenance
Reading in the British Library
Citation
Cheyne, George. An Essay of Health and Long Life (London: George Strahan, 1724). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
02/08/2012
