POPULAR FALLACIES. 



95 



passing, however, from the black to the red, no illusion is produced, the black not 

 acting on the retina so as to excite it. 



If small holes be made in a red curtain, so as to admit the rays of the sun 

 through them, the light which will be thrown upon a sheet of white paper will 

 be the general redness produced by the semi-transparency of the curtain, with 

 the white spots produced by the light passing through the holes ; but these 

 white spots will appear to the eyes blue. 



It will appear, from these observations, that effects are produced by the juxta- 

 position of colors in objects of art independent of the separate properties of the 

 colors themselves. Two colors, when seen in juxtaposition, do each of them 

 appear to the eye different from what either would appear to be if seen separate- 

 ly from the other. 



The senses of smelling, tasting, and even of feeling or touch, are liable to 

 innumerable causes of deception. If the organ at the time it receives an im- 

 pression be in any unusual condition, or even out of its usual position, the in- 

 dication of the impression will be fallacious. 



If two fingers of the same hand, being crossed, be placed upon a table, 

 and a marble or a pea is rolled between them, the impression will be, if the 

 eyes are closed, that two marbles or two peas are touched. 



If the nose be pinched, and cinnamon be tasted, it will taste like a common 

 stick of deal. This is not a solitary instance. Many substances lose their 

 flavor when the nostrils are stopped. Nurses, therefore, upon right and scien- 

 tific principles stop the jioses of children when they give them doses of disa- 

 greeable medicine. 



If things having different or opposite flavors be tasted alternately, in such 

 rapid succession as not to allow the nerves of tasting to recover their state of 

 repose, the power of distinguishing flavor will be lost for the moment, and the 

 substances, however different, will be undistinguishable from one another. 

 Thus, if the eyes be blindfolded, and buttermilk and claret be alternately tasted, 

 the person tasting them, after a few repetitions of the process, will be unable 

 to distinguish one from the other. 



i Tastes, like colors, in order to produce agreeable effects, should succeed 

 each other in a certain order. Eating, considered as one of the fine arts in the 

 most refined state of society, is regulated by principles, and nothing can shock 

 the habits and rules of epicureanism more than the violation of certain rules 

 in the succession and combination of dishes. It is maintained that perfection 

 in the art of cookery and the observance of its principles at table is the surest 

 mark of a nation's attainment and of the highest state of civilization. 



Of all the organs of sense, that whose nervous mechanism appears to be most 

 easily deadened by excessive action is that of smelling. The most delightful 

 odors can only be enjoyed occasionally, and for short intervals. The scent 

 of the rose, or the still more delicate odor of the magnolia, can be but fleeting 

 pleasures, and are destined only for occasional enjoyment. He who lives in 

 the garden cannot smell the rose, and the woodcutter in the southern forests is 

 insensible to the odor of the magnolia. 



Persons who indulge in the use of artificial scents soon cease to be conscious 

 of their presence, and can only stimulate their jaded organs by continually chan- 

 ging the objects of their enjoyment. 



One of the most curious and most incomprehensible illusions of the senses 

 is the singularly erroneous estimate which we make of the number of objects 

 of any kind that are presented to us. A striking example of this is presented 

 by the impression made upon the eye by a view of the firmament on a clear 

 starlight night. The number of visible stars are always immensely over-esti- 

 mated. Although it be true that the stars are, strictly speaking, countless in 



