Date: 1664

"But the source which produces these spirits is usually so abundant that they enter these cavities in sufficient quantity to have the force to push out against the surrounding matter and make it expand, thus tightening all the tiny nerve-fibres which come from it (in the way that a moderate wind ...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1664

"Now among these figures, it is not those imprinted on the external sense organs, or on the internal surface of the brain, which should be taken to be ideas--but only those which are traced in the spirits on the surface of the gland (where the seat of the imagination and the 'common' sense is loc...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1664

"That is to say, it is only the latter figures which should be taken to be the forms or images which the rational soul united to this machine will consider directly when it imagines some object or perceives it by the senses."

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1664

"But I shall content myself with telling you more about how the traces are imprinted on the internal part of the brain which is the seat of the memory."

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1664

"Thus they also trace figures in these gaps, which correspond to those of the objects. At first they do this less easily and perfectly than they do on gland H, but gradually they do it better and better, as their action becomes stronger and lasts longer, or is repeated more often. That is why the...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1664

"I should like you to consider, after this, all the functions I have ascribed to this machine -- such as the digestion of food, the beating of the heart and arteries, the nourishment and growth of the limbs, respiration, waking and sleeping, the reception by the external sense organs of light, so...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1664

"To this I answer, that do but intensly observe any one of the former spots or clouds, and you shall see it go quite along from the tail to the head, keeping alwayes an equal distance from the precedent and subsequent spot: so that it is far more ingenious to believe it to be a gale of Animal Spi...

— Power, Henry (1623-1668)

Date: 1664

"What does the Soul, but (like an excellent Chymist) in this internal Laboratory of Man, by a fermentation of our nourishment in the stomach and guts, a filtration thereof through the Lacteae, a digestion in the Heart, a Circulation and Rectification in the Veins and Arteries: what does she, I sa...

— Power, Henry (1623-1668)

Date: 1664

"So that it seems, this Cottage of Clay, with all its Furniture within it, was but made in subserviency to the Animal Spirits; for the extraction, separation, and depuration of which, the whole Body, and all the Organs and Utensils therein are but instrumentally contrived, and preparatorily desig...

— Power, Henry (1623-1668)

Date: 1664

"First, therefore we affirm, that this thin and spirituous matter, which is called the Animal Spirits, is the immediate Instrument of the Soul, in all her operations both of Sense and Motion."

— Power, Henry (1623-1668)