Of the Animal Spirits

Of the Animal Spirits*

Those spirits which we Animal do call,

May men, and women be, and creatures small;

And in the body, kingdoms may divide,

As nerves, muscles, veins, and arteries wide.

The head, and heart, East and West Indies be,

Which through the veins may traffic, as the sea:

In fevers great by shipwreck many dies,

For when the blood is hot, and vapours rise

On boiling pulse, as waves they toss, if hit

Against hard rock of great obstructions, split. [10]

Head the East Indies, where spicy fancy grows,

From oranges and lemons sharp satire flows;

The heart the West, where heat the blood refines,

Which blood is gold, and silver heart the mines.

Those from the head in ships their spice they fetch,

And from the heart the gold and silver rich.