(Do objects at a distance seem smaller) because we perceive magnitude
only by accident, and because color is perceived first? In this case,
when an object is near, we perceive its colored magnitude; when at a
distance, we perceive first its color, not well enough distinguishing
its parts to gather exact knowledge of its quantity, because its
colors are less lively. Why should we be surprised at magnitudes
being similar to sounds, which grow weaker as their form decreases
in distinctness? As to sounds, indeed, it is the form that is sought
by the sense of hearing, and here intensity is noticed only as an
accident. But if hearing perceive magnitude only by accident, to what
faculty shall we attribute the primitive perception of intensity
in sound, just as primitive perception of magnitude in the visible
object is referable to the sense of touch? Hearing perceives apparent
magnitude by determining not the quantity but the intensity of sounds;
this very intensity of sounds, however, is perceived only by accident
(because it is its proper object). Likewise, taste does not by accident
feel the intensity of a sweet savor. Speaking strictly, the magnitude
of a sound is its extent. Now the intensity of a sound indicates its
extent only by accident, and therefore in an inexact manner. Indeed a
thing's intensity is identical with the thing itself. The multitude of
a thing's parts is known only by the extent of space occupied by the
object.