66. For a phenomenon to prove the action of intelligence, it is not necessary that
it should be eloquent, witty, or even wise; it is sufficient that it should give evidence of
free and voluntary action, expressive of intention, and transmitting or replying to a
thought. If we see a weathercock turned by the wind, we know that it obeys only a
mechanical impulsion; but if; in these movements, we detected any thing that appeared
to be intentional, anything in the nature of signals, - for example, if it turned quickly or
slowly, to the right or to the left, at our command,-we should be forced to acknowledge,
not that the weathercock
was intelligent, but that it was submitted to the action of an intelligence. And this was
the conclusion forced upon observers by the movement of the tables.
