"But, as this account of the agency of the soul, and of its power over the body, scarcely seems to demand a serious answer, I shall only observe, that to imagine the soul should, with the wisest views and in the most skilful manner, at first form the body, (a work far above the utmost efforts of human art and contrivance!), and afterwards, when it is disordered, should, with the same skill and wisdom, often remedy the evil, and restore it to a sound state; but finding it in the end, or sometimes suspecting it only, to be no longer tenable or comfortable, should, instead of repairing, either whimsically or wisely desert it: to conceive, I say, of the soul as performing all this, without, in the mean time, being conscious of such intentions, or of the exertions of its power in pursuance of them, is at least as great a stretch of fancy, as to suppose, that an able architect might raise a stately edifice, in which nothing would be wanting that could contribute either to its usefulness or ornament that he might frequently make good such damages as it sustains from the weather, or from the decay of any of its materials; and at last, apprehending it to be in danger of falling, might abandon it; without being at all aware of ever having once exercised, either his skill in contriving, erecting, and repairing it, or his prudence in, quitting it, when, as he thought, it was ready to bury him in its ruins."
— Whytt, Robert (1714-1766)
Metaphor
"But, as this account of the agency of the soul, and of its power over the body, scarcely seems to demand a serious answer, I shall only observe, that to imagine the soul should, with the wisest views and in the most skilful manner, at first form the body, (a work far above the utmost efforts of human art and contrivance!), and afterwards, when it is disordered, should, with the same skill and wisdom, often remedy the evil, and restore it to a sound state; but finding it in the end, or sometimes suspecting it only, to be no longer tenable or comfortable, should, instead of repairing, either whimsically or wisely desert it: to conceive, I say, of the soul as performing all this, without, in the mean time, being conscious of such intentions, or of the exertions of its power in pursuance of them, is at least as great a stretch of fancy, as to suppose, that an able architect might raise a stately edifice, in which nothing would be wanting that could contribute either to its usefulness or ornament that he might frequently make good such damages as it sustains from the weather, or from the decay of any of its materials; and at last, apprehending it to be in danger of falling, might abandon it; without being at all aware of ever having once exercised, either his skill in contriving, erecting, and repairing it, or his prudence in, quitting it, when, as he thought, it was ready to bury him in its ruins."
Metaphor in Context
But, as this account of the agency of the soul, and of its power over the body, scarcely seems to demand a serious answer, I shall only observe, that to imagine the soul should, with the wisest views and in the most skilful manner, at first form the body, (a work far above the utmost efforts of human art and contrivance!), and afterwards, when it is disordered, should, with the same skill and wisdom, often remedy the evil, and restore it to a sound state; but finding it in the end, or sometimes suspecting it only, to be no longer tenable or comfortable, should, instead of repairing, either whimsically or wisely desert it: to conceive, I say, of the soul as performing all this, without, in the mean time, being conscious of such intentions, or of the exertions of its power in pursuance of them, is at least as great a stretch of fancy, as to suppose, that an able architect might raise a stately edifice, in which nothing would be wanting that could contribute either to its usefulness or ornament that he might frequently make good such damages as it sustains from the weather, or from the decay of any of its materials; and at last, apprehending it to be in danger of falling, might abandon it; without being at all aware of ever having once exercised, either his skill in contriving, erecting, and repairing it, or his prudence in, quitting it, when, as he thought, it was ready to bury him in its ruins.
(Sect XI, p. 279)
