I could not subsist without, so much as the Twinkling of an Eye. And
this is that which I look'd for at first. For as for this Blood, how
often have I lost a great deal of it in my Skirmishes with the Wild
Beasts, and yet it never did me any considerable harm, nor rendred me
incapable of performing any Action of Life, and therefore what I look
for is not in this Cavity. Now as for the Cavity on the left side, I
find 'tis altogether empty, and I have no reason in the World to think
that it was made in vain, because I find every part appointed for such
and such particular Functions. How then can this Ventricle of the Heart,
which I see is of so excellent a Frame, serve for no use at all? I
cannot think but that the same thing which I am in search of, once dwelt
here, but has now deserted his Habitation and left it empty, and that
the Absence of that thing, has occasion'd this Privation of Sense and
Cessation of Motion, which happen'd to the Body." Now when he perceiv'd
that the Being which had inhabited there before, had left its House
before it fell to Ruine, and forsaken it when as yet it continu'd whole
and entire, he concluded that it was highly probable that it would never
return to it any more, after its being so cut and mangled.

§ 22. Upon this the whole Body seem'd to him a very inconsiderable
thing, and worth nothing in respect of that Being, he believed once
inhabited, and now had left it. Therefore he applied himself wholly to
the consideration of that Being. _What it was?_ and _how it subsisted?
what joyn'd it to the Body? Whether it went, and by what passage, when
it left the Body? What was the Cause of its Departure, whether it were
forc'd to leave its Mansion, or left the Body of its own accord? and in
case it went away Voluntarily, what it was that rendred the Body so
disagreeable to it, as to make it forsake it?_ And whilst his Mind was
perplext with such variety of Thoughts, he laid aside all concern for
the Carcass, and threw it away; for now he perceiv'd that his Mother,