NOTE IV.Of the Animal Spirits.Page 116.He who is so intolerant of the personifications proposed by others makes one personification more.
Of the Animal Spirits.Page 116.He who is so intolerant of the personifications proposed by others makes one personification more.
Of the Animal Spirits.
Page 116.He who is so intolerant of the personifications proposed by others makes one personification more.
Broussais explains every thing by the wordirritation, just as Gall explains every thing by the wordfaculties, and as Malebranche explained them byanimal spirits.
After serving Descartes, theanimal spiritswere inthe service of Malebranche; they served all the authors of the seventeenth century.
Malebranche commences one of his chapters with these words: “Every body agrees that theanimal spirits....”[197]He had no idea that every body would agree some day, that theanimal spiritsis mere nonsense.
There were animal spirits of all sorts; as Gall hadfacultiesof all sorts: there wereagitated[198]animal spirits,languidanimal spirits.[199]There were evenlibertineanimal spirits.
“Wine is so spirituous,” says Malebranche, “that it isanimal spiritsalmost completely formed, but libertine spirits.”[200]
The animal spirits seemed to have become theultima ratioof the philosophers.
The author of a book, in other respects to be esteemed, thus definedimagination: “Imagination is a perception of the soul’s caused by the internal motion of the animal spirits.”[201]
That author had no doubt that he was saying something.