The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn YokdhanIbn Tufayl, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik
Islamic
The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan
Ibn Tufayl, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik
Islamic philosophy -- Early works to 1800
Sec. 21. Therefore he first Attacks the _Pericardium_, which, after a long
tryal and a great deal of pains, he made shift to tear; and when he had
laid the Heart bare, and perceiv'd that it was solid on every side, he
began to examin it, to see if he could find any hurt in it; but finding
none, he squeez'd it with his Hands, and perceiv'd that it was hollow.
He began than to think that what he look'd for, might possibly be
contain'd in that Cavity. When he came to open it, he found in it two
Cavities, one on the right side, the other on the left. That on the
right side was full of clotted Blood, that on the left quite empty.
"Then (says he,) without all doubt, one of those two Cavites must needs
be the Receptacle of what I I look for; as for that on this side there's
nothing in it but congealed Blood, which was not so, be sure, till the
whole Body was in that condition in. which it now is" (for he had
observ'd that all Blood congeals when it flows from the Body, and that
this Blood did not differ in the least from any other,) "and therefore
what I look for, cannot by any means, be such a matter as this; for that
which I mean, is something which is peculiar to this place, which I find
I could not subsist without, so much as the Twinkling of an Eye. And
this is that which I look'd for at first. For as for this Blood, how
often have I lost a great deal of it in my Skirmishes with the Wild
Beasts, and yet it never did me any considerable harm, nor rendred me
incapable of performing any Action of Life, and therefore what I look
for is not in this Cavity. Now as for the Cavity on the left side, I
find 'tis altogether empty, and I have no reason in the World to think
that it was made in vain, because I find every part appointed for such
and such particular Functions. How then can this Ventricle of the Heart,
which I see is of so excellent a Frame, serve for no use at all? I
cannot think but that the same thing which I am in search of, once dwelt
here, but has now deserted his Habitation and left it empty, and that
the Absence of that thing, has occasion'd this Privation of Sense and
Cessation of Motion, which happen'd to the Body." Now when he perceiv'd
that the Being which had inhabited there before, had left its House
before it fell to Ruine, and forsaken it when as yet it continu'd whole
and entire, he concluded that it was highly probable that it would never
return to it any more, after its being so cut and mangled.
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