n
is the pleasantness or unpleasantness of this sensation," "perceived by
its being propagated and becoming active throughout the entire system."
I have therefore several times, when translating from Buffon, rendered
the word "_sentiment_" by "perception," and shall continue to do so. "I
say," writes Buffon, "the pleasantness or unpleasantness, because this
is the very essence of perception; the one feature of perception
consists in perceiving either pain or pleasure; and though movements
which do not affect us in either one or the other of these two ways may
indeed take place within us, yet we are indifferent to them, and do not
perceive that we are affected by them. All external movement, and all
exercise of the animal powers, spring from perception; its action is
proportionate to the extent of its excitation, to the extent of the
feeling which is being felt.[94] And this same part, which we regard as
the centre of sensation, will also be that of all the animal powers; or,
if it is preferred to call it so, it will be the common _point d'appui_
from which they all take rise. The diaphragm is to the animal what the
'stock' is to the plant; both divide an organism transversely, both
serve as the _point d'appui_ of opposing forces; for the forces which
push upward those parts of a tree which should form its trunk and
branches, bear upon and are supported by the 'stock,' as do those
opposing forces, which drive the roots downwards.

. . . . . .

"Even on a cursory examination we can see that all our innermost
affections, our most lively emotions, our most expansive moments of
delight, and, on the other hand, our sudden starts, pains, sicknesses,
and swoons--in fact, all our strong impressions concerning the pleasure
or pain of any sensation--make themselves felt within the body, and
about the region of the diaphragm. The brain, on the contrary, shows no
sign of being a seat of perception. In the head there are pure
sensations and nothing else, or rather, there are but the
representations of sensations stripped of the character of perception;
that is to say, we can remember and call to mind whether such and such a
sensation was pleasant to us or otherwise, and if this operation, which
goes on in the head, is followed by a vivid perception, then the
impression made is perceived in the interior of the body, and always in
the region of the diaphragm. Hence, in the foetus where this membrane
is without use, there is no p