Date: September 17, 1726

"I have now, Sir, laid open to you the Faculties of the Mind, and shewn that those of most Men consist but in a mechanical Operation, as well as those of other Animals."

— Arbuckle, James (d. 1742)

Date: 1727

"To see a Fool, a Fop, believe himself inspir'd, a Fellow that washes his Hands fifty times a-day, but if he would be truly cleanly, should have his Brains taken out and wash'd, his Scull Trapan'd, and plac'd with the hind-side before, that his Understanding, which Nature plac'd by Mistake, with ...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1728

"Is not such a rational Benevolence more agreeable to rational Natures, and more meritorious than a blind Instinct that we have in common with inferior Creatures, and which operates, as it were, mechanically, both on their Minds and ours?"

— Balguy, John (1686-1748)

Date: 1728 (1733)

"If the several Members, and the constituent Parts of this curious Machine, which the Mind always carries about her, have a brisk uniform Motion, and be so ballanc'd and adjusted as easily to perform all the Animal Functions, this gives a Briskness and Vivacity to the Mind, and entertains her wit...

— Campbell, Archibald (1691-1756)

Date: 1728 (1733)

"By which Means she always bears a mighty Liking and Good-will to the Body; which is very much encreased from considering its Usefulness, and that it serves as a very commodious Engine to carry her about in her Diversions and Amusements, and to procure other Objects which she feels as necessary t...

— Campbell, Archibald (1691-1756)

Date: 1728 (1733)

"And my Reader will be pleas'd to observe, That whatever agreeable Perceptions we have form thence, they must all necessarily expire with the Body, unless the Author of Nature immediatly interpose and appoint new Regulations; for in the present Constitution of Things, the Human Body is the only E...

— Campbell, Archibald (1691-1756)

Date: 1728 (1733)

"Thus does that Great Man, with a Noble Elevation of Soul, teach his Disciples what he properly was, not the Body, which they were soon to see a lifeless Carcase, but the Mind, which after the Poyson should stop the Motions of his Earthly Machine, would strait go off to inhabit the Mansions of th...

— Campbell, Archibald (1691-1756)

Date: 1726, 1729

"Let us Instance in a Watch--Suppose the several Parts of it taken to Pieces, and placed apart from each other: Let a Man have ever so exact a Notion of these several Parts, unless he considers the Respects and Relations which they have to each other, he will not have any thing like the Idea of a...

— Butler, Joseph (1692-1752)

Date: 1729

"You have seen those Engines that raise Water by the Help of Fire; the Steam you know, is that which forces it up; it is as impossible to see the volatile Particles that perform the Labour of the Brain, when the Creature is dead, as in the Engine it would be to see the Steam, (which yet does all ...

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1729

"The Brain of an Animal cannot be look'd and search'd into whilst it is alive. Should you take the main Spring out of a Watch, and leave the Barrel that contain'd it, standing empty, it would be impossible to find out what it had been that made it exert itself, whilst it shew'd the Time"

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)