4appc27.md (1073B)
1 The advantage which we derive from things external to 2 us, besides the experience and knowledge which we acquire from 3 observing them, and from recombining their elements in different 4 forms, is principally the preservation of the body; from this 5 point of view, those things are most useful which can so feed and 6 nourish the body, that all its parts may rightly fulfil their 7 functions. For, in proportion as the body is capable of being 8 affected in a greater variety of ways, and of affecting external 9 bodies in a great number of ways, so much the more is the mind 10 capable of thinking (IV. xxxviii., xxxix.). But there seem to be 11 very few things of this kind in nature; wherefore for the due 12 nourishment of the body we must use many foods of diverse nature. 13 For the human body is composed of very many parts of different 14 nature, which stand in continual need of varied nourishment, so 15 that the whole body may be equally capable of doing everything 16 that can follow from its own nature, and consequently that the 17 mind also may be equally capable of forming many perceptions. 18 19