The text discusses the harmony between the physical actions and the thinking of the mind, emphasizing how they should align with the truth. It considers the role of both animal and rational souls and explains how the bond between the soul and body is broken after death. The passage explores the muscles' role, supported by living spirits and various tools, in performing actions, and it aims to provide an understanding of human anatomy through examples.
To the Reader.
It naturally follows from the harmony of actions in the hand, in order to apply them modestly to this and that specific duty: and particularly to unite the visible actions with the thinking of the mind, or the will of the worker, so that the viewer, and those involved, may have no other perception than that which aligns with the truth of the matter. For those who consider the countless actions and events in the deeds of humans, it will not be too much to discuss a few; and that the principal lessons should be illustrated with a little explanation, to know the lion by its claw. Should a rational person not work intelligibly and attentively under the guidance of the thinking soul and with awareness of a conscience, there must also be a distinction between the animal soul, which are the living spirits residing in the blood and fluids; something of the contemplative spirit of humans must also be addressed. In the absence of such living spirits, the bond between soul and body is broken; and the spirit moves to the place it came from; and the body, deprived of its household and knowledgeable governor, is dead and disintegrates into the matter from which it was constructed and composed. And just as in this separation of the bones, the structure sustainably maintains itself, we also want to examine their most precious connection by the end of this book; but not so much to understand the internal frame of the human body after death, as to observe the coverings of the visible muscles, in their wondrous service and incomprehensible capability, in order to bring them to their right place at home. Indeed, it is truly only the muscles, with the help of the living spirits, and many implements, such as wheels, pulleys, windlasses, lifting ropes, screws, and cranes, that enable humans to move their boned limbs voluntarily, and to execute innumerable actions. And when we have then demonstrated the visible form and service of these muscles in certain specific actions with examples, we will consider our study of human anatomy sufficiently addressed.