Date: 1715

"And the only Conception we can form of voluntary Motion is, that the Mind, like a skillful Musician, strikes upon the Nerve which conveys Animal Spirits to the Muscle to be contracted, and adds a greater Force than the natural to the nervous Juice"

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1720

"But Adam's Soul being put in his Body, his Brain was a Tabula rasa, as White Paper, had no Impressions in it, but such as either God put in it, or such as came to him by his Senses."

— Burnet, Gilbert (1643-1715)

Date: 1724

"The Soul resides eminently in the Brain, where all the Nervous Fibres terminate inwardly, like a Musician by a well-tuned Instrument, which has Keys within, on which it may play, and without, on which other Persons and Bodies may also play."

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"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; m...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"As in Bodies there is a Principle of Gravity or Attraction, whereby in Vacuo, they tend to one another, and would unite, according to certain Laws and Limitations established by the Author of Nature: So there is an Analogous Principle in Spirits, whereby they would as certainly, in their proper ...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"The sudden Gusts of these Passions being thus accounted for, when they become extreme they drive about the Blood with such a Hurricane, that Nature is overset, like a Mill by a Flood: So that what drove it only quicker round before, now intirely stops it, and renders the Countenance pale and gha...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"Since the Mind resides, as has been said, in the common Sensory, like a skilful Musician. by a well-tuned Instrument; if the Organ be found, duly tempered, and exactly adjusted, answering and corresponding with the Actions of the Musician, the Musick will be distinct, agreeable and harmonious."

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"But if the Passions be raging and tumultuous, and constantly fuelled, nothing less that He, who has the Hearts of Men in his Hands, and forms them as a Potter does his Clay, who stills the raging Seas, and calms the Tempests of the Air, can settle and quiet such tumultuous, overbearing Hurricane...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"Without such a Miracle, since the Soul and Body act mutually upon one another, and the Tabernacle of Clay is the weakest part of the Compound, it must at last be overborn and thrown down."

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"As a Stone in a Wall, fastened with Mortar, compressed by surrounding Stones, and involved in a Million of other Attractions, cannot fall to the Earth, nor sensibly exert its natural Gravity, no, not so much as to discover there is such a Principle in it; just so, the intelligent Soul, in this h...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)