DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18825#0258
172 OF EXPRESSION. [lECT. VII.
How does it a& upon, and is acted upon by it ?"—
Our powers are so confined while inhabiting these
bodies, that we are ignorant even of ourselves, and
of our most intimate connection.
But those affections of the mind which accompany
bodily wants, or sensations, are not totally concealed
from us: for, by the reciprocal action of body on
mind, and mind on body, they become subject to
our investigation and inspection. Pain, for instance,
js an idea transmitted to the mind by the body
(which, separate from the mind, is insensible); now
that the mind is affected by pain, appears, from those
tokens of its feelings which it communicates to the
body, and especially to certain parts by which it is
accustomed to express that idea; so that, although
the immediate seat of pain be in the foot, or the
hand, the countenance will exhibit the tokens of
pain equally strong as if itself suffered. Again, in
any violent paroxysm of the mind, or in any of its
gloomy and despondent sufferings, the traces of those
affections are transmitted to the grosser part of our
composition, and that which itself is incapable of
thought or of meditation, yet informs us what is the
employment of the mind; and by constantly receiv-
ing these impressions, it retains them so strongly,
that we discern in some what habit of study and re-
flection they have indulged, and whether the sub-
jects of their investigation are serious or ludicrous.
Passions, with regard to expression, may be di-
vided into simple and compound : by simple,
meaning those which have some single direct object,
and which, therefore., generally arise from, and cen-
tre
How does it a& upon, and is acted upon by it ?"—
Our powers are so confined while inhabiting these
bodies, that we are ignorant even of ourselves, and
of our most intimate connection.
But those affections of the mind which accompany
bodily wants, or sensations, are not totally concealed
from us: for, by the reciprocal action of body on
mind, and mind on body, they become subject to
our investigation and inspection. Pain, for instance,
js an idea transmitted to the mind by the body
(which, separate from the mind, is insensible); now
that the mind is affected by pain, appears, from those
tokens of its feelings which it communicates to the
body, and especially to certain parts by which it is
accustomed to express that idea; so that, although
the immediate seat of pain be in the foot, or the
hand, the countenance will exhibit the tokens of
pain equally strong as if itself suffered. Again, in
any violent paroxysm of the mind, or in any of its
gloomy and despondent sufferings, the traces of those
affections are transmitted to the grosser part of our
composition, and that which itself is incapable of
thought or of meditation, yet informs us what is the
employment of the mind; and by constantly receiv-
ing these impressions, it retains them so strongly,
that we discern in some what habit of study and re-
flection they have indulged, and whether the sub-
jects of their investigation are serious or ludicrous.
Passions, with regard to expression, may be di-
vided into simple and compound : by simple,
meaning those which have some single direct object,
and which, therefore., generally arise from, and cen-
tre