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CHAP. V. Of the Faculties of the SOUL.

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Plato, Alcinous, and many other learned Men, do agree, that the heavenly Spirit’s Composition, mixing Fire, Air, Earth, and Water, made of them all, put together, one Body; which they subjected to the Service of the SOUL, assigning the several Provinces of the one, to the sundry Faculties of the other: To the meaner of them, mean and low Places; as to Anger, the Midriff; to Lust, the Womb, &c: but to the more noble Senses, the HEAD, as the Tower of the whole Body.

AS they divide these Senses into external and internal; so they subdivide the external Senses into five: To which are allotted as many proper Organs or Subjects, being so order’d, that they which are placed in the more eminent Parts of the Body, have the greater Degree of Purity.

FOR the Eyes, placed in the uppermost part, are the most pure, and have an Affinity with the Nature of Fire and Light. The Ears have the second Order of Place and Purity, and are compar’d to the Air. The Nostrils take the third Order, and have a middle Nature betwixt Air and Water. Then the Organ of Tasting, which is grosser, and most like to the Nature of Water. And, lastly, Touching being diffus’d through the whole Body, is compar’d to the Grossness of Earth.

AND of these, the more pure SENSES, are those which perceive their Objects farthest off; as first Seeing, then Hearing, then Smelling, which are all more pure than Taste, which doth not perceive but what is nigh: whereas the Touch perceives both Ways; it perceives Bodies nigh: And as Sight discerns by the Medium of the Air; so the Touch perceives, by the Medium of a Pole, Bodies hard, soft, dry, moist, &c.

NOW this Sense of Touching, is common indeed to all Animals: However, ’tis certain that Man, in this, as well as in the Sense of Tasting, excels all others: whereas, in the other three, he is exceeded by some Brutes, as by a Dog, which hears, sees, and smells much more acutely than Man. Besides, the Lynx, and Eagle, see more acutely than Man, or any other Creature in the World.

AS to the interiour SENSES, they are (according to Averroes) divided into Four; whereof the first is called the Common Sense, because it collects and perfects such Representations as are drawn-in by the external SENSES. The second is the Imaginative Faculty, which retains those receiv’d Representations, and presents them to the third Faculty of internal SENSE; which is call’d the Cogitative Faculty, Phantasy, or Power of Judging: Because it perceives and judges by the Representations received, what Nature or Kind of Thing that is, of which the Representations are made; and commits those Things thus discerned and adjudged, to the fourth Faculty of Inward SENSE, the Memory, to be kept there, and retain’d by it.

AND these Four SENSES have their respective Organs in the Head: Common Sense and Imagination possess the two former Cells of the Brain, as the Cogitative Faculty doth the highest, and middle Part of the Head; the Memory taking up the hindmost Part thereof.

THE Organs of Speech and Voice are as many as the inward Muscles of the Thorax, betwixt the Ribs, Breasts, Lungs, Arteries, Wind-pipe, the Bending of the Tongue, and all Parts and Muscles, serving for Respiration, or Breathing: But the proper and immediate Organ of Speech, is the Mouth, in which are fram’d Words and Sentences, by the Tongue, Teeth, Palate, Lips, &c. above the sensitive Soul, which expresseth its Powers by the Organs of the Body. The incorporeal Mind possesseth the highest Place, and hath a double Nature; the one called the Contemplative, the other the Active Intellect, because of their respective Faculties.

ACCORDING to the three-fold Order of its Faculties there are three APPETITES in the Soul. The first is natural, which is an Inclination of Nature unto its End. The second is Animal, which is divided into irascible and concupiscible, relating to Anger and Desire. The third is intellective, and is call’d the Will; which (from its own deprav’d Quality) is affected with four PASSIONS, as the Body sometimes also is. The first is called Oblectation; the second, Effusion; the third, Ostentation; the fourth, and last, is what we commonly call Envy. And

THESE four PASSIONS arising from a deprav’d APPETITE of Pleasure; its Grief or Perplexity doth occasion as many contrary PASSIONS: viz. Horror, Sadness, Fear, and Sorrow at another’s Good, without its own Hurt; which is call’d Envy, being a Sadness at another’s Prosperity, as Pity is a certain kind of Sadness at another’s Misery or Adversity.

BUT not to insist on these Topicks, I shall only add a few Words upon the PASSIONS of the Mind; which are nothing else than certain Motions or Inclinations, proceeding from the Apprehension of any Thing, as of Good or Evil, &c.

THESE Apprehensions are of three different Sorts, viz. Sensual, Rational, and Intellectual. And according to them, there are three Sorts of Passions in the Soul; the first, following the sensual Apprehension, respects a temporal Good or Evil, under the Notion of Profit or Loss, Defence or Offence, &c: and they are called Natural or Animal Passions.

THE second following the Rational Apprehension, respects Good or Bad, under the Notion of Virtue or Vice, Praise or Disgrace, &c: and they are called Rational or Voluntary Passions.

THE third, following the Intellectual Apprehension, respects Good or Evil, under the Notion of Truth or Falsehood, Justice or Injustice, &c: and this Sort is call’d Intellectual Passions.

BUT these three different Sorts proceed all from the Energy of the Soul; which is divided into Concupiscible and Irascible, both respecting Good and Evil, tho’ under different Notions: which Division affords us eleven Passions of the Mind, viz. Love, Hatred, Desire, Horror, Joy, Grief, Hope, Despair, Boldness, Fear, and Anger; all which might be particularly defin’d: But as that is more the Philosopher’s than the Physician’s Business, I shall proceed to that which is more strictly my Province.