Date: 1725

"In Pieces took here we are shewn the whole / Clock-work and Mechanism of the Soul; / May see the Movements, Labyrinths, and Strings, / Its Wires, and Wheels, and Balances, and Springs; / How 'tis wound up to its full Height, and then / What checks, and stops, and settles it again."

— Glanvil, John (1664-1735)

Date: 1725

"So delicate's the Texture of her Brain, / We wish it less refin'd, and nearer Man; / For weak's the Clock with over-curious Springs, / And frail the Voice that too divinely sings"

— Sterling, James

Date: September 10, 1726

"First then I lay down, as an undeniable Truth, that we have in common with other Animals a certain Machine of a curious and exquisite Workmanship, the principal Springs whereof are Imagination and Memory."

— Arbuckle, James (d. 1742)

Date: September 10, 1726

"To explain this, we must consider that the first Image which an outward Object imprints on our Brain is very slight; it resembles a thin Vapour which dwindles into nothing, without leaving the least track after it. But if the same Object successively offers itself several times, the Image it occ...

— Arbuckle, James (d. 1742)

Date: September 17, 1726

"I have now, Sir, laid open to you the Faculties of the Mind, and shewn that those of most Men consist but in a mechanical Operation, as well as those of other Animals."

— Arbuckle, James (d. 1742)

Date: 1727

"To see a Fool, a Fop, believe himself inspir'd, a Fellow that washes his Hands fifty times a-day, but if he would be truly cleanly, should have his Brains taken out and wash'd, his Scull Trapan'd, and plac'd with the hind-side before, that his Understanding, which Nature plac'd by Mistake, with ...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1728

"Is not such a rational Benevolence more agreeable to rational Natures, and more meritorious than a blind Instinct that we have in common with inferior Creatures, and which operates, as it were, mechanically, both on their Minds and ours?"

— Balguy, John (1686-1748)

Date: 1728 (1733)

"If the several Members, and the constituent Parts of this curious Machine, which the Mind always carries about her, have a brisk uniform Motion, and be so ballanc'd and adjusted as easily to perform all the Animal Functions, this gives a Briskness and Vivacity to the Mind, and entertains her wit...

— Campbell, Archibald (1691-1756)

Date: 1728 (1733)

"By which Means she always bears a mighty Liking and Good-will to the Body; which is very much encreased from considering its Usefulness, and that it serves as a very commodious Engine to carry her about in her Diversions and Amusements, and to procure other Objects which she feels as necessary t...

— Campbell, Archibald (1691-1756)

Date: 1728 (1733)

"And my Reader will be pleas'd to observe, That whatever agreeable Perceptions we have form thence, they must all necessarily expire with the Body, unless the Author of Nature immediatly interpose and appoint new Regulations; for in the present Constitution of Things, the Human Body is the only E...

— Campbell, Archibald (1691-1756)