eye, to the lips; and when at the lips it entered
through the mouth, and through a way within the mouth,
and, indeed, through the Eustachian tube, into the
brain. When the breathing arrived there, I understood
their speech, and was enabled to speak with them.
When they spoke with me, I observed that my lips were
moved, and my tongue also slightly, which was owing
to the correspondence of interior with exterior speech.
Exterior speech is that of articulate sound which impinges
upon the external membrane of the ear, and it is conveyed
from thence, by means of the small organs, membranes,
and fibres, which are within the ear, to the brain.
From these facts it was given me to know that the
speech of the inhabitants of Mars was different from
that of the inhabitants of our Earth, in that it is
not sonorous, but almost tacit, insinuating itself
into the interior hearing and sight by a shorter way;
and that, being such, it was more perfect, and fuller
of the ideas of thought, thus approaching nearer to
the speech of spirits and angels. Among them
the very affection of the speech is also represented
in the face, and its thought in the eyes; for with
them thought and speech, and affection and the face,
act in unity. They account it infamous to think
one thing and speak another, and to will one thing
and show another in the face. They know not what
hypocrisy is, nor fraudulent simulation and deceit.
The same kind of speech prevailed amongst the Most
Ancient inhabitants of our Earth, as it has been given
me to learn by conversation with some of them in the
other life; and to elucidate this subject I may relate
what I have heard respecting it, as follows:
“It was shown me by an influx which I cannot
describe, what was the character of the speech which
prevailed amongst those who were of the Most Ancient
Church[gg]. It was not articulate, like the vocal
speech of our time, but tacit, being effected, not
by external, but by internal respiration, consequently
it was a cogitative speech. It was given me also
to apperceive the character of their internal respiration.
It proceeded from the navel towards the heart, and
so through the lips without sound when they spoke.
It did not enter the ear of another by an external
way, and strike upon what is called the drum of the
ear, but by a certain internal way, and indeed by
what at this day is called the Eustachian tube.
It was shown me, that by such speech they could express
the feelings of the mind (animus), and the
ideas of thought, much more fully than can possibly
be done by articulate sounds or audible expressions,
which speech is likewise directed by respiration, but
external; for there is not a vocal sound, yea, there
is nothing in a vocal sound, which is not directed
by applications of the respiration. But with
them this was done much more perfectly, because by
the internal respiration, which, because more interior,
is also more perfect, and more applicable and conformable
to the very ideas of thought; besides, [it is done]