odors; for strong and unalloyed qualities make a
more pleasing impression on the sense. Their touch is almost senseless
to a sore, and a wound generally raises no sharp pain. The like also in
their hearing may be observed; for old musicians play louder and sharper
than others, that they may move their own dull tympanum with the sound.
For what steel is to the edge in a knife, that spirit is to the sense in
the body; and therefore, when the spirits fail, the sense grows dull and
stupid, and cannot be raised, unless by something, such as strong wine,
that makes a vigorous impression.

QUESTION VIII. WHY OLD MEN READ BEST AT A DISTANCE.

PLUTARCH, LAMPRIAS, AND OTHERS.

To my discourse in the former problem some objection may be drawn from
the sense of seeing in old men; for, if they hold a book at a distance,
they will read pretty well, nearer they cannot see a letter and this
Aeschylus means by these verses:--

Behold from far; for near thou canst not see;
A good old scribe thou mayst much sooner be.

And Sophocles more plainly:--

Old men are slow in talk, they hardly hear;
Far off they see; but all are blind when near.

And therefore, if old men's organs are more obedient to strong and
intense qualities, why, when they read, do they not take the reflection
near at hand, but, holding the book a good way off, mix and weaken it by
the intervening air, as wine by water?

Some answered, that they did not remove the book to lesson the light,
but to receive more rays, and let all the space between the letters and
their eyes be filled with lightsome air. Others agreed with those that
imagine the rays of vision mix with one another; for since there is a
cone stretched between each eye and the object, whose point is in the
eye and whose basis is the object, it is probable that for some way each
cone extends apart and by itself; but, when the distance increases, they
mix and make but one common light; and therefore every object appears
single and not two, though it is seen by both eyes at once; for the
conjunction of the cones makes these two appearances but one. These
things supposed, when old men hold the letters close to their eyes, the
cones not being joined, but each apart and by itself, their sight is
weak; but when they remove it farther, the two lights being mingled and
increased, see better, as a man with both hands can hold that for which
either singly is too weak.

But my brother Lam