The consequence is
that things should appear in the same posture they are painted in; and is
it not so? The head which is seen seems farthest from the earth which is
seen; and the feet which are seen seem nearest to the earth, which is
seen; and just so they are painted.
115. But, say you, the picture of the man is inverted, and yet the
appearance is erect: I ask, what mean you by the picture of the man, or,
which is the same thing, the visible man's being inverted? You tell me it
is inverted, because the heels are uppermost and the head undermost?
Explain me this. You say that by the head's being undermost you mean that
it is nearest to the earth; and by the heels being uppermost that they
are farthest from the earth. I ask again what earth you mean? You cannot
mean the earth that is painted on the eye, or the visible earth: for the
picture of the head is farthest from the picture of the earth, and the
picture of the feet nearest to the picture of the earth; and accordingly
the visible head is farthest from the visible earth, and the visible feet
nearest to it. It remains, therefore, that you mean the tangible earth,
and so determine the situation of visible things with respect to tangible
things; contrary to what hath been demonstrated in sect. 111 and 112. The
two distinct provinces of sight and touch should be considered apart, and
as if their objects had no intercourse, no manner of relation one to
another, in point of distance or position.
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