25. We can as little understand how the parts cohere in extension, as how our spirits perceive or move.
I allow it is
usual for most people to wonder how any one should find a difficulty in what they think they every day observe.
Do we not see (will they be ready to say) the parts of bodies stick firmly together? Is there anything more
common? And what doubt can there be made of it? And the like, I say, concerning thinking and voluntary motion.
Do we not every moment experiment it in ourselves, and therefore can it be doubted? The matter of fact is clear, I
confess; but when we would a little nearer look into it, and consider how it is done, there I think we are at a loss,
both in the one and the other; and can as little understand how the parts of body cohere, as how we ourselves
perceive or move. I would have any one intelligibly explain to me, how the parts of gold, or brass, (that but now
in fusion were as loose from one another as the particles of water, or the sands of an hour-glass), come in a few
moments to be so united, and adhere so strongly one to another, that the utmost force of men's arms cannot
separate them? A considering man will, I suppose, be here at a loss to satisfy his own, or another man's
understanding.
