40 THE REASON WHY : 



" What a piece of work is a man ! 

 How noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties. 

 In forin and moving, how express and admirable! 

 In action, how like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a God.' 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SENSES SEEING, HEARING, SMELLING, TASTING, AND FEELING. 



112. Why are the, senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling 

 pla-ced in the head? 



Because the head is the most elevated part of the body, and is 

 capable of moving independently of the rest of the fabric. Thus the 

 organs of sense, which put us in connection with the external world, 

 which render us susceptible of pleasure, and which give us notice 

 of the approach of objects capable of exciting pain, are placed where 

 external bodies may be brought most conveniently and completely 

 in contact with them, and where alone they can be efficient as the 

 sentinels of the system. 



113. How do we know that the powers of seeing depend more 

 upon the mechanical exercise of the eye itself than upon mental 

 capacity ? 



Because many persons in certain departments of life, are capable 

 of discerning objects more readily in connection with their pursuits 

 than better informed or more intellectual persons who have seldom 

 or never seen those objects ; thus a sailor will descry the various 

 phenomena of the elements, which are invisible to the learned and 

 refined passenger ; and the ploughman will point out certain objects 

 in a landscape to the wondering student who has just escaped from 

 his labours. On the other hand, persons who are much accustomed 

 to reading are enabled to take in, as it were, the contents of a wholo 

 page of a book, while another person less accustomed to reading has 

 only been able to master two or three lines. 



114. Why is it erroneous to suppose, that on entering a, room wt 

 tee all the objects in it at once ? 



Because this apparently simultaneous view arises from the motions 



