Page:History of Modern Philosophy (Falckenberg).djvu/124

 lOa DESCARTES. spirits " {spiritus animales sive corporales), and described as a " very subtle wind " or " pure and vivid flame," which ascend into the cavities of the brain, reach the pineal gland sus- pended in its center {conar ion, glans pine alis, glatidula),]}^.?,^ into the nerves, and, by their action on the muscles connected with the nerves, effect the motions of the limbs. These views refer to the body alone, and so are as true of animals as of ^ men. If automata existed similar to animals in all respects, both external and internal, it would be absolutely impossi- ble to distinguish them from real animals. If, however, they were made to resemble human bodies, two signs would indicate their unreality — we would find no communication j of ideas by means of language, and also an absence of those v bodily movements which take their origin in the reason (and not merely in the constitution of the body). The only thing which raises man above the brute is his rational soul, which we are on no account to consider a product of matter, but which is an express creation of God, superadded. The union of the soul or the mind {anima sive mens) with the body is, it is true, not so loose that the mind merely dwells in the body, like a pilot in a ship, nor, on the other hand, in view of the essential contrariety of the two substances, is it so intimate as to be more than a unio compositionis. Although the soul is united to the whole body, an especially active intercourse between them is developed at a single point, the pineal gland, which is distinguished by its central, pro- tected position, above all, by the fact that it is the only cerebral organ that is not double. This gland, together with the animal spirits passing to and from it, mediates between mind and body ; and as the point of union for the twofold impressions from the (right and left) eyes and ears, without which objects would be perceived double instead of single, is the seat of the soul. Here the soul exercises a direct influence on the body and is directly affected by it ; here it dwells, and at will produces a slight, peculiar move- ment of the gland, through this a change in the course of the animal spirits (for it is not capable of generating motion, but only of changing its direction), and, finally, movements of the members ; just as, on the other hand, it remarks the slightest change in the course of the spiritus through a cor- ,v