THE INADEQUACY OF ''NATURAL SELECTION:' 803 



parts correspond with their tactual activities. The palms have 

 but one fifth the perceptiveness possessed by the forefinger-ends ; 

 the inner surfaces of the finger-joints next the palms have but 

 one third, while the inner surfaces of the second joints have but 

 one half. These abilities correspond with the facts that whereas 

 the inner parts of the hand are used only in grasping things, the 

 tips of the fingers come into play not only when things are grasped, 

 but when such things, as well as smaller things, are felt at or 

 manipulated. It needs but to observe the relative actions of these 

 parts in writing, in sewing, in judging textures, etc., to see that 

 above all other parts the finger-ends, and especially the fore- 

 finger-ends, have the most multiplied experiences. If, then, it be 

 that the extra perceptiveness acquired from extra tactual activi- 

 ties, as in a compositor, is inheritable, these gradations of tactual 

 perceptiveness are explained. 



Doubtless some of those who remember Weber's results, have 

 had on the tip of the tongue the argument derived from the tip 

 of the tongue. This part exceeds all other parts in power of tact- 

 ual discrimination : doubling, in that respect, the power of the 

 forefinger-tip. It can distinguish points that are only one twenty- 

 fourth of an inch apart. Why this unparalleled perceptiveness ? 

 If survival of the fittest be the ascribed cause, then it has to be 

 shown what the advantages achieved have been; and, further, 

 that those advantages have been sufficiently great to have had 

 effects on the maintenance of life. 



Besides tasting, there are two functions conducive to life, 

 which the tongue performs. It enables us to move about food 

 during mastication, and it enables us to make many of the articu- 

 lations constituting speech. But how does the extreme discrimi- 

 nativeness of the tongue-tip aid these functions ? The food is 

 moved about, not by the tongue-tip, but by the body of the 

 tongue ; and even were the tip largely employed in this process, 

 it would still have to be shown that its ability to distinguish be- 

 tween points one twenty-fourth of an inch apart, is of service to 

 that end, which can not be shown. It may, indeed, be said that 

 the tactual perceptiveness of the tongue-tip serves for detection 

 of foreign bodies in the food, as plum-stones or as fish-bones. But 

 such extreme perceptiveness is needless for the purpose — a per- 

 ceptiveness equal to that of the finger-ends would suffice; and 

 further, even were such extreme perceptiveness useful, it could 

 not have caused survival of individuals who possessed it in 

 slightly higher degrees than others. It needs but to observe a 

 dog crunching small bones, and swallowing with impunity the 

 sharp-angled pieces, to see that but a very small amount of mor- 

 tality would be prevented. 



But what about speech ? Well, neither here can there be 



