The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the MoonDefoe, Daniel
Science
The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon
Defoe, Daniel
Fantasy fiction; Interplanetary voyages -- Fiction; Moon -- Fiction; Political fiction; Satire
There was abundance of vast Classes full of the Works of this
wonderful Philosopher: He gave the how, the modus of all the secret
Operations of Nature; and told us, how Sensation is convey'd to and
from the Brain; why Respiration preserves Life; and how Locomotion
is directed to, as well as perform'd by the Parts. There are some
Anatomical Dissections of Thought, and a Mathematical Description of
Nature's strong Box, the Memory, with all its Locks and Keys.
There you have that part of the Head turn'd in-side outward, in which
Nature has placed the Materials of reflecting; and like a Glass
Bee-hive, represents to you all the several Cells in which are lodg'd
things past, even back to Infancy and Conception. There you have the
Repository, with all its Cells, Classically, Annually, Numerically,
and Alphabetically Dispos'd. There you may see how, when the perplext
Animal, on the loss of a Thought or Word, scratches his Pole: Every
Attack of his Invading Fingers knocks at Nature's Door, allarms all
the Register-keepers, and away they run, unlock all the Classes,
search diligently for what he calls for, and immediately deliver
it up to the Brain; if it cannot be found, they intreat a little
Patience, till they step into the Revolvary, where they run over
little Catalogues of the minutest Passages of Life, and so in time
never fail to hand on the thing; if not just when he calls for it,
yet at some other time.
And thus, when a thing lyes very Abstruse, and all the rumaging of
the whole House cannot find it; nay, when all the People in the House
have given it over, they very often find one thing when they are
looking for another.
Next you have the Retentive in the remotest part of the Place, which,
like the Records in the Tower, takes Possession of all Matters, as
they are removed from the Classes in the Repository, for want of
room. These are carefully Lockt, and kept safe, never to be open'd
but upon solemn Occasions, and have swinging great Bars and Bolts
upon them; so that what is kept here, is seldom lost. Here Conscience
has one large Ware-house, and the Devil another; the first is very
seldom open'd, but has a Chink or Till, where all the Follies and
Crimes of Life being minuted are dropt in; but as the Man seldom
cares to look in, the Locks are very Rusty, and not open'd but with
great Difficulty, and on extraordinary Occasions, as Sickness,
Afflictions, Jails, Casualties, and Death; and then the Bars all give
way at once; and being prest from within with a more than ordinary
Weight, burst as a Cask of Wine upon the Fret, which for want of
Vent, makes all the Hoops fly.
As for the Devil's Ware-house, he has two constant Warehouse-keepers,
Pride and Conceit, and these are always at the Door, showing their
Wares, and exposing the pretended Vertues and Accomplishments of the
Man, by way of Ostentation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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