Book 10
1.53
For without the transmission from the object of a certain interconnexion of the parts no such sensation could arise. Therefore we must not suppose that the air itself is moulded into shape by the voice emitted or something similarAir is not, as Democritus held (Beare, op. cit.p. 99), the medium, any more than for vision (§ 49). By something similar Epicurus probably means to include sound or noise. Lucretius treats of hearing in iv. 524-614, ii. 410-413.; for it is very far from being the case that the air is acted upon by it in this way. The blow which is struck in us when we utter a sound causes such a displacement of the particles as serves to produce a current resembling breath, and this displacement gives rise to the sensation of hearing.
1.53
Again, we must believe that smelling,Cf. Lucr. iv. 673-705, ii. 414-417. Neither taste nor touch is treated separately in this epistle. like hearing, would produce no sensation, were there not particles conveyed from the object which are of the proper sort for exciting the organ of smelling, some of one sort, some of another, some exciting it confusedly and strangely, others quietly and agreeably.
