Brydone, Patrick; Beckford, William: A Tour Through Sicily And Malta: in a series of letters to William Beckford ; in 2 vol. (Band 1) (1775)

SICILY AND MALTA. 235
doubt, that in process of time these will
be properly investigated; when mankind
will wonder how much they have been
in the dark. It will then possibly be found,
that what we call sensibility of nerves,
and many of those diseases that the fa-
culty have as yet only invented names
for, are owing to the body's being pos-
sessed of too large or too small a quantity
of this subtile and active ssuid ; that very
fluid, perhaps, that is the vehicle of all
our feelings; and which they have so long
searched for in vain in the nerves: For I
have sometimes been led to think, that this
sense was nothing else than a (lighter kind
of electric effect, to which the nerves serve
as conductors ; and that it is by the rapid
circulation of this penetrating and animat-
ing fire that our sensations are performed.
We all know, that in damp and hazy
weather, when it seems to be blunted and
absorbcd by the humidity ; when its ac-
tivity is lost, and little or none of it can be
collected ;