This David observes when he says: "God hath fashioned the hearts and
minds of men, and has given to every one his own being and a soul of its
own nature." Hence Solomon rejoiced that God had given him a soul, and a
body agreeable to it. It has been disputed among the learned in what
part of the body the soul resides; some are of opinion its residence is
in the middle of the heart, and from thence communicates itself to every
part, which Solomon (Prov. iv. 23) seems to confirm when he says: "Keep
thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." But
many curious physicians, searching the works of nature in man's anatomy,
do affirm that its chief seat is in the brain, from whence proceed the
senses, the faculties, and actions, diffusing the operations of the soul
through all parts of the body, whereby it is enlivened with heat and
force to the heart, by the arteries, corodities, or sleepy arteries,
which part upon the throat; which, if they happen to be broken or cut,
they cause barrenness, and if stopped an apoplexy; for there must
necessarily be ways through which the spirits, animal and vital, may
have intercourse and convey native heat from the soul. For though the
soul has its chief seat in one place, it operates in every part,
exercising every member which are the soul's instruments, by which she
discovers her power.
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