"He gives a curious system of the instrument of Memory, which he says is the last or inner ventricle of the brain, whereas the first or outer ventricles are the instruments of perception or thought. He affirms that, according as you hurt one or other of thole instruments, you destroy either of the faculties, and he gives a very entertaining experimental account of instances in confirmation of his theory."
— Boswell, James (1740-1795)
Author
Work Title
Date
April, 1783
Metaphor
"He gives a curious system of the instrument of Memory, which he says is the last or inner ventricle of the brain, whereas the first or outer ventricles are the instruments of perception or thought. He affirms that, according as you hurt one or other of thole instruments, you destroy either of the faculties, and he gives a very entertaining experimental account of instances in confirmation of his theory."
Metaphor in Context
To define Memory with precision is no easy matter. Cicero, in his admirable work De Oratore, gives it thus: "Memoria est per quam animus repetit illa quae suerunt thesaurus rerum inventarum--Memory is the faculty by which the mind recalls the ideas which have existed in it, and is a treasury of the things which it has found." But still we are not told how the faculty is exercised in either of those ways. Nemesius, one of the fathers who is not much known, and whole name is not to be found in Bayle's Dictionary, defines it to the same effect with Cicero, but in fewer words in the motto of, this paper. He deserves to be more read, and to have more fame; for he has left us a treatise "De Natura Hominis--Of the Nature of Man," so well considered and composed, that the best parts of what has been published, one age after another, and in various languages, as metaphysicks are to be found there. He gives a curious system of the instrument of Memory, which he says is the last or inner ventricle of the brain, whereas the first or outer ventricles are the instruments of perception or thought. He affirms that, according as you hurt one or other of thole instruments, you destroy either of the faculties, and he gives a very entertaining experimental account of instances in confirmation of his theory.
(p. 156 in London Magazine)
(p. 156 in London Magazine)
Categories
Citation
The Hypochondriack, No. 67 (April, 1783). See also The London Magazine, or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer
<Link to Google Books>
See also James Boswell, The Hypochondriack, ed. Margery Bailey, 2 vols. (Stanford UP, 1928).
See also James Boswell, The Hypochondriack, ed. Margery Bailey, 2 vols. (Stanford UP, 1928).
Date of Entry
07/09/2013
