Translation © George MacDonald Ross, 1975–1999

[19] My opinion is that [the little gland called the conarium] is the principal seat of the soul, and the place where all our thoughts occur. The reason which leads me to this belief is that in the whole of the brain I can find no other part which is not doubled; but since we see only one and the same thing by two eyes, and hear only one and the same voice by two ears, and, finally, since we never have more than one thought at one and the same time, it necessarily follows that the species which enter by the two eyes or by the two ears &c. must become united in some part of the body so that they can there be considered by the soul; but in the whole of the head this gland is the only such part to be found. Besides, it has the most appropriate situation possible for this purpose, namely in the [20] middle, among all the cavities; and it is sustained and surrounded by little branches of the carotid arteries, which bring the spirits into the brain. But as for the species which are conserved in the memory, I imagine that they are like the folds which are conserved in this piece of paper once it has been folded; and so I believe that they are received principally in the whole substance of the brain, although I do not deny that they can also in some way be in this gland, especially in the case of people whose spirits are dullest; for I believe that people with the best and subtlest spirits must have the gland completely free of species and perfectly mobile; just as we also see that, in contrast with the other parts of the brain, the gland is smaller in humans than it is in animals.

Go to Index to the Correspondence with Meyssonnier