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Yes, if that will be declared, we must abide by it
and search no further. But, on the other hand,
something informs me that it is acceptable to exercise
the talents bestowed upon us, and to search and explain
the Creator s works. This divine and philosopher
says well, if we are to look on the surface only.
But where is his authority for going no deeper? No
doubt he believed that he was giving a very accurate
statement of the effects of passion, but it would be
easy to show that he has jumbled signs, quite incongruous,
from an ignorance of their natural relations.
We have in this extract an enumeration of phenomena
the most surprising in the whole extent of nature,
and the most affecting to human sympathies. We
must confess that they are so deeply implanted in
our nature, that we shall not be able to discover the
ultimate connexion between the emotions of the soul
and those signs of the body. But this conviction
should not extinguish the desire of comprehending
the organs of expression, more than those of the voice,
or of seeing and hearing.
In these Essays the subject matter does not always
correspond with the titles, so although there be something
said of the forms of beauty, and the expression
in painting, the work has a larger scope, and aims at
greater usefulness. It has been the author’s main
design to furnish a sufficient foundation for arranging
the symptoms of disease, and for a more accurate
description of them.
The description of a disease is a mere catalogue
of signs, if their cause and relation be not understood ;
and if no cause for certain appearances, and no relation
among them be observed, the signs can neither
be accurately recorded nor remembered.
The motion of one part of the body, produced by
the excitement of another, and the movements produced
by passion on the frame of the body, become
symptoms when caused by disease.
A man pulling on a rope draws his breath and