| 687 | 688 | 689 | 690 | 691 |
| 1 | 306 | 613 | 919 | 1225 |
|
[Footnote 57: lettere incoronate. By this term Leonardo probably
understands not the Bible only, but the works of the early Fathers,
and all the books recognised as sacred by the Roman Church.] I leave
alone the sacred books; for they are supreme truth.
On the relations of the soul to the organs of sense.
8
38.
HOW THE FIVE SENSES ARE THE MINISTERS OF THE SOUL.
The soul seems to reside in the judgment, and the judgment would
seem to be seated in that part where all the senses meet; and this
is called the Common Sense and is not all-pervading throughout the
body, as many have thought. Rather is it entirely in one part.
Because, if it were all-pervading and the same in every part, there
would have been no need to make the instruments of the senses meet
in one centre and in one single spot; on the contrary it would have
sufficed that the eye should fulfil the function of its sensation on
its surface only, and not transmit the image of the things seen, to
the sense, by means of the optic nerves, so that the soul--for the
reason given above-- may perceive it in the surface of the eye. In
the same way as to the sense of hearing, it would have sufficed if
the voice had merely sounded in the porous cavity of the indurated
portion of the temporal bone which lies within the ear, without
689
Page
Quick Jump
|