An Essay on the Vital and Other Involuntary Motions of Animals (Classic Reprint)


Book Description

Excerpt from An Essay on the Vital and Other Involuntary Motions of Animals Only cannot he proved to exi/l, hut which are' frequently more intricate and complex than even the efidt to he explained from them. And ia deed, it cannot he expeeied that unguided imagi nation fhould hit upon the truth, ute nature hat f5 clrfely concealed many of her operationt. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."










Transitions and Borders Between Animals, Humans and Machines 1600-1800


Book Description

Drawing on natural history, theology and philosophy, this book retraces the shifting foundations of the order of things that characterizes the period between Descartes and Kant with respect to three questions: What is an animal? What is a human? What is a machine?




The Animal Spirit Doctrine and the Origins of Neurophysiology


Book Description

This book examines the history of Western attempts to explain how messages might be sent from the sense organs to the brain and from the brain to the muscles. It focuses on a construct called animal spirit, which would permeate philosophy and guide physiology and medicine for over two millennia.




Psyche and Soma


Book Description

Psyche and Soma is a multi-disciplinary exploration of the conceptions of the human soul or mind and body, through the course of more than two thousand years of Western history. Thirteen specially commissioned chapters, each written by a recogized expert, discuss figures such as the physiciansHippocrates, Galen, Stahl, and Cabanis; theologians St Paul, Augustine, and Aquinas; and philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to Descartes, Leibniz, and La Mettrie. The chapters explore in chronlogical sequence the views of these writers on such questions as the soul's immortality, the control itexerts over the body, how mental disturbances arise out of bodily imbalances, and the roles of the priest and the physician in promoting spiritual and mental health. Psyche and Soma will be a key point of reference and a rich source of illumination in this central area of human inquiry.