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Objection 1: It would seem that man by the power of his soul can
change corporeal matter. For Gregory says (Dialog. ii, 30):
"Saints work miracles sometimes by prayer, sometimes by their power:
thus Peter, by prayer, raised the dead Tabitha to life, and by his
reproof delivered to death the lying Ananias and Saphira." But in
the working of miracles a change is wrought in corporeal matter.
Therefore men, by the power of the soul, can change corporeal
matter.
Objection 2: Further, on these words (Gal. 3:1): "Who
hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth?" the gloss
says that "some have blazing eyes, who by a single look bewitch
others, especially children." But this would not be unless the power
of the soul could change corporeal matter. Therefore man can change
corporeal matter by the power of his soul.
Objection 3: Further, the human body is nobler than other inferior
bodies. But by the apprehension of the human soul the human body is
changed to heat and cold, as appears when a man is angry or afraid:
indeed this change sometimes goes so far as to bring on sickness and
death. Much more, then, can the human soul by its power change
corporeal matter.
On the contrary, Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 8):
"Corporeal matter obeys God alone at will."
I answer that, As stated above (Question 110, Article 2),
corporeal matter is not changed to (the reception of) a form save
either by some agent composed of matter and form, or by God Himself,
in whom both matter and form pre-exist virtually, as in the primordial
cause of both. Wherefore of the angels also we have stated (Question
110, Article 2) that they cannot change corporeal matter by their
natural power, except by employing corporeal agents for the production
of certain effects. Much less therefore can the soul, by its natural
power, change corporeal matter, except by means of bodies.
Reply to Objection 1: The saints are said to work miracles by the
power of grace, not of nature. This is clear from what Gregory says
in the same place: "Those who are sons of God, in power, as John
says---what wonder is there that they should work miracles by that
power?"
Reply to Objection 2: Avicenna assigns the cause of bewitchment to
the fact that corporeal matter has a natural tendency to obey spiritual
substance rather than natural contrary agents. Therefore when the soul
is of strong imagination, it can change corporeal matter. This he
says is the cause of the "evil eye."
But it has been shown above (Question 110, Article 2) that
corporeal matter does not obey spiritual substances at will, but the
Creator alone. Therefore it is better to say, that by a strong
imagination the (corporeal) spirits of the body united to that soul
are changed, which change in the spirits takes place especially in the
eyes, to which the more subtle spirits can reach. And the eyes infect
the air which is in contact with them to a certain distance: in the
same way as a new and clear mirror contracts a tarnish from the look of
a "menstruata," as Aristotle says (De Somn. et Vigil.; [De
Insomniis ii]).
Hence then when a soul is vehemently moved to wickedness, as occurs
mostly in little old women, according to the above explanation, the
countenance becomes venomous and hurtful, especially to children, who
have a tender and most impressionable body. It is also possible that
by God's permission, or from some hidden deed, the spiteful demons
co-operate in this, as the witches may have some compact with them.
Reply to Objection 3: The soul is united to the body as its form;
and the sensitive appetite, which obeys the reason in a certain way,
as stated above (Question 81, Article 3), it is the act of a
corporeal organ. Therefore at the apprehension of the human soul, the
sensitive appetite must needs be moved with an accompanying corporeal
operation. But the apprehension of the human soul does not suffice to
work a change in exterior bodies, except by means of a change in the
body united to it, as stated above (ad 2).
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