Fa. And can they be vitiated with Meat and Drink too?

Eu. Yes.

Fa. The Brain is a great Way off from the Stomach.

Eu. And so is the Funnel of a Chimney from the Fire-Hearth, yet if you sit upon it you’ll feel the Smoke.

Fa. I shan’t try that Experiment.

Eu. Well, if you won’t believe me, ask the Storks.  And so it is of Moment what Spirits, and what Vapours ascend from the Stomach to the Brain, and the Organs of the Mind.  For if these are crude or cold they stay in the Stomach.

Fa. Pshaw!  You’re describing to me an Alembick, in which we distil Simple-Waters.

Eu. You don’t guess much amiss.  For the Liver, to which the Gall adheres, is the Fire-Place; the Stomach, the Pan; the Scull, the Top of the Still; and if you please, you may call the Nose the Pipe of it.  And from this Flux or Reflux of Humours, almost all Manner of Diseases proceed, according as a different Humour falls down after a different Manner, sometimes into the Eyes, sometimes into the Stomach, sometimes into the Shoulders, and sometimes into the Neck, and elsewhere.  And that you may understand me the better, why have those that guzzle a great Deal of Wine bad Memories?  Why are those that feed upon light Food, not of so heavy a Disposition?  Why does Coriander help the Memory?  Why does Hellebore purge the Memory?  Why does a great Expletion cause an Epilepsy, which at once brings a Stupor upon all the Senses, as in a profound Sleep?  In the last Place, as violent Thirst or Want weaken the Strength of Wit or Memory in Boys, so Food eaten immoderately makes Boys dull-headed, if we believe Aristotle; in that the Fire of the Mind is extinguish’d by the heaping on too much Matter.

Fa. Why then, is the Mind corporeal, so as to be affected with corporeal Things?

Eu. Indeed the Nature itself of the rational Soul is not corrupted; but the Power and Action of it are impeded by the Organs being vitiated, as the Art of an Artist will stand him in no Stead, if he has not Instruments.

Fa. Of what Bulk, and in what Form is the Mind?

Eu. You ask a ridiculous Question, what Bulk and Form the Mind is of, when you have allow’d it to be incorporeal.

Fa. I mean the Body that is felt.

Eu. Nay, those Bodies that are not to be felt are the most perfect Bodies, as God and the Angels.

Fa. I have heard that God and Angels are Spirits, but we feel the Spirit.

Eu. The Holy Scriptures condescend to those low Expressions, because of the Dullness of Men, to signify a Mind pure from all Commerce of sensible Things.

Fa. Then what is the Difference between an Angel and a Mind?

Eu. The same that is between a Snail and a Cockle, or, if you like the Comparison better, a Tortoise.