“As you are aware, no perceptions obtained by the senses are merely sensations impressed on our nervous systems.”

— Hermann von Helmholtz

"On the Physiological Causes of Harmony" (1857), p. 81
Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects (1881)
Context: As you are aware, no perceptions obtained by the senses are merely sensations impressed on our nervous systems. A peculiar intellectual activity is required to pass from a nervous sensation to the conception of an external object, which the sensation has aroused. The sensations of our nerves of sense are mere symbols indicating certain external objects, and it is usually only after considerable practice that we acquire the power of drawing correct conclusions from our sensations respecting the corresponding objects.

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Hermann von Helmholtz 12

physicist and physiologist 1821–1894

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“As you are aware, no perceptions obtained by the senses are merely sensations impressed on our nervous systems.”

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