On the relations of the soul to the organs of sense.
838.
HOW THE FIVE SENSES ARE THE MINISTERS OF THE SOUL.
The soul seems to reside in the judgment, and the judgment would
seem to be seated in that part where all the senses meet; and this
is called the Common Sense and is not all-pervading throughout the
body, as many have thought. Rather is it entirely in one part.
Because, if it were all-pervading and the same in every part, there
would have been no need to make the instruments of the senses meet
in one centre and in one single spot; on the contrary it would have
sufficed that the eye should fulfil the function of its sensation on
its surface only, and not transmit the image of the things seen, to
the sense, by means of the optic nerves, so that the soul--for the
reason given above-- may perceive it in the surface of the eye. In
the same way as to the sense of hearing, it would have sufficed if
the voice had merely sounded in the porous cavity of the indurated
portion of the temporal bone which lies within the ear, without
making any farther transit from this bone to the common sense, where
the voice confers with and discourses to the common judgment. The
sense of smell, again, is compelled by necessity to refer itself to
that same judgment. Feeling passes through the perforated cords and
is conveyed to this common sense. These cords diverge with infinite
ramifications into the skin which encloses the members of the body
and the viscera. The perforated cords convey volition and sensation
to the subordinate limbs. These cords and the nerves direct the
motions of the muscles and sinews, between which they are placed;
these obey, and this obedience takes effect by reducing their
thickness; for in swelling, their length is reduced, and the nerves
shrink which are interwoven among the particles of the limbs; being
extended to the tips of the fingers, they transmit to the sense the
object which they touch.
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