101. If we reflect well upon this objection we shall find that though it is specious and under many aspects true, it contradicts nothing which I have asserted. I did not deny that the new impressions were subject to very different conditions from those that govern the five senses; but on the contrary I have all along supposed a difference not only in the class of impressions and the diversity of the organ, but also in the manner in which the organ is affected, and the circumstances in which the sensation is produced in the soul. I only contended that the animal phenomenon was substantially the same, that we find in it the three things which constitute its nature; a corporeal object; an organ affected by this object; and an impression produced in the soul. Because this impression cannot exist without the aid of this or that idea, this or that recollection, it does not follow that the phenomenon does not exist, or that it is not the same; it is merely to impose a new condition, and nothing more.
102. But there is no necessity of admitting that some previous idea or reflection is requisite in order that the sight of the object may produce certain impressions in the soul;—daily experience proves the contrary. How is it that the presence of an object charms in an instant a tender and perhaps innocent heart? Whence then arises that sudden fascination which is preceded by no idea, accompanied by no affection, and is scarce voluntary? Not from the thought of gross enjoyments; for perhaps he of whom I speak knows not their existence until he experiences this emotion; he feels for the first time in his breast a trouble unknown before. We must therefore recur to an organic affection similar to that which we find in the other senses. Certain conditions of age and temperament may be requisite, one object may have been necessary, among a thousand, in particular circumstances, of which the soul can give no account to itself though affected by them; yet it is still true that there is an external object, an affection of the organism, and an impression in the soul, all connected together by a mysterious, but undeniable bond.
It is easy to discover a series of strong impressions in the phenomena relating to reproduction; but although they presuppose the action of some one of the five senses, they nevertheless belong to a different order. No physiological studies are necessary to prove that these affections depend on the organization, and that they are greatly influenced by age, health, temperament, food, climate, and the seasons.
103. There is a difference between sentiments and sensations which, though it does not change the fact physiologically and psychologically considered, still greatly modifies it in its intellectual and moral relations. The passions are commonly excited by an animate and sensible object, whence it would seem that there is more communication between mind and mind, between soul and soul, than there is between one body and another. The sad and mournful appearance not only of a man, but even of an animal, immediately excites in our breast the sentiment of compassion, because it expresses the suffering of a living being. This only proves that nature has mysterious ways by which it transmits to us the knowledge of hidden things; but this transmission is made by the medium of a body which affects in some way our organic constitution. There is here, if you please, a more admirable, more penetrating, and more spiritual a magic than that of the senses alone; but the difference is in the degree, not in the nature of the phenomena.
It is certain that living beings, and those of the same species in particular, are in a constant communication which mutually excites their affections, and that these affections frequently suppose a mysterious correspondence with unknown agencies. Physical nature is full of fluids whose qualities are daily becoming known through scientific observation. The phenomena of electricity and galvanism have revealed secrets of which we had no suspicion before. Who can tell by what means the functions of this vast and complicated system of animal life, spread over the universe, are performed? It is probable that there are profound secrets in the correspondence and relation of organisms and in the way in which they influence one another yet to be discovered; perhaps they will remain forever veiled to the eyes of mortality.
104. Is it true that sensible beings can alone excite the passions? or have not inanimate causes repeatedly affected our organs? Why are we sometimes joyful and sometimes sad, at some times peaceful and at others irritable, when we have had no communication with any living being? It is clear that this depends on the affections of our organism, and has no relation to the state of other sensible beings.
105. Therefore, besides the impressions caused by the five senses, there are others which proceed from purely corporeal and inanimate objects. Besides the phenomena of ordinary sensations, there are others which differ from them only in the kind of impression and the organ affected; and there is no more difference between these sensations and the former than there is between the impressions of one and those of another of the five senses. Therefore it is not correct to say that there are only five kinds of sensation.
[CHAPTER XVIII.]
SOLUTION OF LAMENNAIS' OBJECTION.