THE EVOLUTION OF A NEW SENSE. 67 



what we may consider new senses. The subject may be thus carried 

 to the higher point concerning the increase of all the mental powers. 



In " our little life . . . roimded with a sleep," we are cut off by 

 invisible barriers from even a comj)rehension of the peculiar tastes for 

 enjoyment manifested by some others. It is difficult to understand 

 Livingston's contentment during a life of exile and exposure. There 

 was in him an inextinguishable mental tendency which appeared in his 

 strange delight in conquering difficulties. But we need not cite an 

 example from the other hemisphere. We see this bias or mental mo- 

 mentum (if a mechanical phrase be allowable in affairs of the mind) 

 all around us. It is true the force is not always effective, but this does 

 not invalidate the reality of this peculiar tendency, which too often 

 shows in how singularly narrow a manner the mental powers act. The 

 minds of men are like circles which allow elongation in a given direc- 

 tion, but at the expense of another part of the circle which contracts 

 in a corresponding degree. The addition of a sixth sense would result 

 in a resource which would not lessen the effectiveness of other facul- 

 ties by a withdrawal of force to supply the new demand. 



That we are mentally inadequate appears in our ever-recurring 

 errors. This narrowness of view is also illustrated by the misunder- 

 standings that arise between ideal and practical men. Some persons 

 who are devoted exclusively to every-day affairs can not easily com- 

 prehend how others can look at a printed page and then form imaginary 

 images or be greatly interested in fiction. On the other hand, the 

 imaginative reader is forced to admit the importance of practical peo- 

 ple, yet he can not see why they take pleasure in trade, which to the 

 reader of intense literary taste involves necessary monotony — like that 

 of a mill at which tramps in England were forced to grind before they 

 could obtain lodging. The ideal and the practical are apparently at 

 opposite poles, yet the general result conforms to the law of liquids 

 in hydraulics : a proper balance is maintained in spite of particular 

 variations. But this intense progressive action, or bias, on one side 

 or the other, should be distinguished from the primary power which 

 would be added were another subjective connection opened with the 

 objective world. The perceptions of a new sense would be positive, 

 like those of our present senses, and would in no manner seem the 

 result of effort or of the skill that comes by practice. 



Mr. Gladstone, in an article contributed to the " Nineteenth Cen- 

 tury," tried to demonstrate theoretically that the perception of color 

 among the ancients was especially defective. In support of this 

 he cited numerous passages from Homer as showing that the great 

 Greek poet could not distinguish fine shades of color. After noticing 

 Homer's comparison of the objects in nature with the colors of ani- 

 mals, he argues that a person with the average modern eye for the 

 perception of color would not have made such comparisons without 

 being aware of their inaccuracy. But he does not maintain that every- 



