But
because these nerves must pass through the tibia, the thigh,
the loins, the back and the neck, in order to reach from the
leg to the brain, it may happen that although their
extremities which are in the foot are not affected, but only
certain ones of their intervening parts [which pass by the
loins or the neck], this action will excite the same movement
in the brain that might have been excited there by a hurt
received in the foot, in consequence of which the mind will
necessarily feel in the foot the same pain as if it had
received a hurt. And the same holds good of all the other
perceptions of our senses.
I notice finally that since each of the movements which
are in the portion of the brain by which the mind is
immediately affected brings about one particular sensation
only, we cannot under the circumstances imagine anything more
likely than that this movement, amongst all the sensations
which it is capable of impressing on it, causes mind to be
affected by that one which is best fitted and most generally
useful for the conservation of the human body when it is in
health.
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