3757. As to what pertains to the life of the body, concerning which I afterwards spoke with spirits [remarking] for instance that some were acquainted with the streets of cities, some know how to cleanse its filth, others how to make shoes, they then said that such persons still lived; but it was given to reply, that this is the life of brutes, for they know all these things and many more pertaining to their bodies than man does, and if they were so framed as to have had need of shoes, they would have made them much better than man makes his, as is evident from the nests of birds, which they construct with so much ingenuity; but inasmuch as they have no need of these things, they have no skill in them; wherefore the life of the brutes is such as it is, because they are corporeal. If they had had need of garments, they could have made them much more expertly than man, as appears from their being clad in more beautiful raiment than he is. It is hence given to conclude that such things as pertain to the body are the things which are common to the beasts.