"What does the Soul, but (like an excellent Chymist) in this internal Laboratory of Man, by a fermentation of our nourishment in the stomach and guts, a filtration thereof through the Lacteae, a digestion in the Heart, a Circulation and Rectification in the Veins and Arteries: what does she, I say, by these several Physico-Chymical operations, but strive all this while to unfix, exalt, and volatilize the Spirits conteined in our nutriment, that so they may be transmitted to the Brain, and its divarications, and in that reconditory kept and reposited for her use and service."

— Power, Henry (1623-1668)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by T. Roycroft, for John Martin and James Allestry
Date
1664
Metaphor
"What does the Soul, but (like an excellent Chymist) in this internal Laboratory of Man, by a fermentation of our nourishment in the stomach and guts, a filtration thereof through the Lacteae, a digestion in the Heart, a Circulation and Rectification in the Veins and Arteries: what does she, I say, by these several Physico-Chymical operations, but strive all this while to unfix, exalt, and volatilize the Spirits conteined in our nutriment, that so they may be transmitted to the Brain, and its divarications, and in that reconditory kept and reposited for her use and service."
Metaphor in Context
Now the Spirits that are lodged in all the meats and drinks we receive, being more or less fixed therein; What does the Soul, but (like an excellent Chymist) in this internal Laboratory of Man, by a fermentation of our nourishment in the stomach and guts, a filtration thereof through the Lacteae, a digestion in the Heart, a Circulation and Rectification in the Veins and Arteries: what does she, I say, by these several Physico-Chymical operations, but strive all this while to unfix, exalt, and volatilize the Spirits conteined in our nutriment, that so they may be transmitted to the Brain, and its divarications, and in that reconditory kept and reposited for her use and service.
(p. 65)
Provenance
Reading Joanna Picciotto, Labors of Innocence in Early Modern England. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 261.
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1664).

Henry Power, Experimental Philosophy, in Three Books Containing New Experiments Microscopical, Mercurial, Magnetical: With Some Deductions, and Probable Hypotheses, Raised from Them, in Avouchment and Illustration of the Now Famous Atomical Hypothesis. (London: Printed by T. Roycroft, for John Martin and James Allestry, 1664). <Link to EEBO-TCP>
Date of Entry
07/28/2014

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.