whenseparated from the body. 29 7

Softie insects have whole clusters of eyes,When their exigencies require more than two ;

and

^ is no less certain here, that all perception must spring° ut of Its own nature , or belong to it. It is true, it maysaid, that the eye modifies the motion which it com-municates ; and thus conduces to the perception of th?soul. But if there were no percipient Being within , thePotion, however modified, would not be perceived: andto make the perception of the foul depend on the modifi-cation of mechanical motion, or owing to that, is still tolft cur the contradiction of two powerless substances , &c.And, secondly, though the rays of light are made tofonverge, and form an image in the bottom of the eye,the eye it self is as little active in doing this, as the handor foot is. It is another Being that performs the motion,and the foul itself perceives the image or the motion excitedby it. And if the soul perceives the images, or pictures ofobjects, it may as easily perceive the originals, or objects.themselves. There tyouM be no necessity of a lens in thehole of the shutter, when the rpom is darkened, to formthe images on the opposite wall, if the rays from the objectscould enter in their natural order : and it requires nomore art, nor a greater perceptive capacity in the foul toperceive the external objects, at first hand, than to per-ceive these images on the wall. Just so; the reason whythis artifice in the eye (which is the great, original came-ra oscura) and these images on the retina are necessary,is because the soul is confined, -and in a dark room ; andthe same visive faculty which perceives the copies or pic-tures there, must as easily perceive the originals. It is stillbut perception of figure , in the one cafe as in the other.

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