(Prf:13) He further asserted,
that every act of mental volition is united in nature to a certain given
motion of the gland. (14) For instance, whenever anyone desires to look
at a remote object, the act of volition causes the pupil of the eye to
dilate, whereas, if the person in question had only thought of the
dilatation of the pupil, the mere wish to dilate it would not have brought
about the result, inasmuch as the motion of the gland, which serves to
impel the animal spirits towards the optic nerve in a way which would
dilate or contract the pupil, is not associated in nature with the wish
to dilate or contract the pupil, but with the wish to look at remote or
very near objects. (15) Lastly, he maintained that, although every motion
of the aforesaid gland seems to have been united by nature to one
particular thought out of the whole number of our thoughts from the
very beginning of our life, yet it can nevertheless become through
habituation associated with other thoughts; this he endeavours to prove
in the Passions de l'?me, I. 50. (Prf:16) He thence concludes, that there
is no soul so weak, that it cannot, under proper direction, acquire
absolute power over its passions. (17) For passions as defined by him are
"perceptions, or feelings, or disturbances of the soul, which are referred
to the soul as species, and which (mark the expression) are produced,
preserved, and strengthened through some movement of the spirits.
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